Facebook bully fined
Unrepentant filthmonger targets lover’s mom
A21-YEAR-old homosexual has received a R5 000 fine and a suspended prison sentence for advertising his boyfriend’s mother as a “free b****” on Facebook and publishing her home address – because she did not approve of their relationship.
Ezran Lee Veerabuthran, of Phoenix, smiled as he stood in the dock of the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Thursday, pleading guilty to charges of crimen injuria and criminal defamation.
He smirked as prosecutor Roshiela Benimadho read out the charges relating to his calling Overport grandmother Vanitha Maharaj, 46, a b****, 3rd grade hoar (sic), and claims that she was selling parts of her body and sleeping with policemen.
He also admitted to having referred to her using other foul and derogatory words.
Maharaj cast a lonely figure as she sat in the court gallery observing the proceedings.
In his guilty plea, Veerabuthran, who was wearing his hair in spikes and sporting a red and black leather jacket, told the court that he was involved in a relationship with Maharaj’s son.
“The complainant did not approve of my relationship with her son and this led to bitterness and acrimony between us.
“This also led to the complainant disowning her son and directing vulgarities and abuse towards me. I became incensed by her attitude towards the relationship with her son,” he said in his plea statement.
“In response to her abuse/vulgarities on various occasions between June 4, 2014 and June 9, 2014 I sent her several voice and text messages where I called her a b****, whore, 3rd grade hoar…”.
He said he became so incensed with the complainant that on June 5, “I published a Facebook post on my Facebook page calling her a free b**** and advertising her residential address”.
Veerabuthran said he was arrested and charged based on various text/voice messages and posts on Facebook.
“I knew my actions were wrongful and unlawful and I know that I have no defence against (them) in law. I further admit that I acted intentionally at all material times.”
Benimadho told the court that while society was advancing in technology there was a collapse of morals and values.
Veerabuthran was not remorseful and a guilty plea was prompted out of him due to the overwhelming evidence against him, she said. She also referred to the young man’s “absolute contemptuous attitude”.
Benimadho said what was most worrying was that he had dreams of becoming a teacher.
“What kind of role model will he be to children?”
She said that people should think twice before speaking and three times before posting online. But sadly, people believed it was their democratic right to post anything on social media, the prosecutor added.
“A sentence must be handed out that would deter like minded individuals,” she said. “Irreparable damage is done when things are posted online.”
Suicide
In a victim impact statement handed to the court Maharaj said that after receiving the voice notes and messages from Veerabuthran she felt “ashamed” and “embarrassed”.
“I felt so low and I felt like a slut. I even tried to commit suicide,” she said, explaining that people who had seen the advertisements had contacted her enquiring about what services she provided, “eg (oral sex) and threesomes”.
She said that because of the messages on Facebook her family wanted nothing to do with her.
“They think that I am advertising myself. My son-in-law doesn’t want my daughter and grandchildren to come visit me, all because of this, and my mother had an attack when I told her what was going on.”
Maharaj said people were talking about her at work and this made her feel “very uncomfortable”.
“I was ashamed to look at them because they were all gossiping about me. I am stressed all the time and I am taking sleeping medication,” she said.
“My relationship with my boyfriend was affected and we broke up because he could not believe what was advertised about me.
“I have a job where I have to have a lot of concentration and I had to miss out on work for which I did not get paid because of all this defamation from the accused.”
She said there were days she could not get out of bed.
“I feared going to work because the accused stated that he was going to catch and f*** me up outside my workplace. That was told on the voice note that was sent to me.”
Heeding the prosecutor’s call, magistrate Phumlani Bhengu ordered Veerabuthran to attend an anger management programme at the National Institute for Crime Prevention and the Reintegration of Offenders (NICRO).
He sentenced him to a R5 000 fine and three years imprisonment, wholly suspended for a period of three years on condition Veerabuthran is not found guilty of a similar offence in that time.