Lawyers urge Seibold: hit trolls with everything you’ve got

BRISBANE Broncos Coach Anthony Seibold could be entitled to hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages, and those behind the disgusting online attacks against him could face three years in jail.

Legal experts say the ramifications for online trolls who have targeted Seibold – some of whom are believed to have links to personalties inside the game – could be huge, as cybercrime gurus work on tracking the origins of social media slurs against him that emerged last week. It comes as the NRL told Seibold it would use the full powers of the integrity unit to act against any registered player or official found to have helped cultivate the campaign.

If he chooses to, Seibold could hit the online trolls with both civil and criminal cases.

Leading Brisbane criminal lawyer Bill Potts said while criminal defamation was extraordinarily rare, he would be advising Seibold to hit them with everything.

“I would be urging him to both make complaints to the federal police over the use of a carriageway; state police with respect to criminal defamation; I would be seeking restraining orders in the Supreme Court and suing them for defamation,” he said.

Mr Potts said the culprits could be charged under federal law with using a carriage service to intimidate or harass, if it were determined that the rumours were purposely spread on the internet.

Both the state and federal charges have a maximum prison length of three years.

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