Scientology:
Fined for ‘harassment’
Mandurah Coastal Times
Vanessa Schmitt
November 3, 2010
Source | Comment
A MANDURAH man was fined heavily for persistently calling the Church of Scientology and Peel police district office when he appeared in Mandurah Magistrates Court last month.
John Desmond Allen (31) was found guilty of two counts of using a carriage service to menace, harass and cause offence after two trials on October 18 and 25.
The October 18 trial related to 79 phone calls from Allen to the Peel police district office from June 29 to August 9. He was fined $1500 and police awarded a misconduct restraining order against Allen.
At the October 25 trial, witnesses from the Church of Scientology described how Allen made about 500 calls over a two-week period.
A church human resources volunteer said Allen told him he did not agree with the church and wanted to take it down. He said Allen called at least 70 times in one day and was verbally abusive.
The church volunteer said he would hang up on the calls because Allen was creating a nuisance.
“He would block our lines up so people could not call,” he said.
“His intentions were to harm the church.
“Originally it did not worry me, but I started to feel physically ill with the harassment.”
The volunteer said Allen had free calls from his landline through his server.
Magistrate Terence McIntyre said Allen conceded he made the calls, but had limited recollection of some of the calls.
The court was told Allen made all the calls because he wanted someone to talk to him.
Allen was fined $750 with $327 costs. Mr McIntyre warned Allen not to call the Church of Scientology again, but Allen said he would appeal.
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