'Nigger' case ruling lands magistrate in hot water

SYDNEY - An Australian magistrate has drawn scorn after dismissing a case where a defendant urged a state MP to tighten immigration laws against "sandnigger terrorists".

Magistrate Michael O'Driscoll determined the term was in common usage and would not be considered offensive by a "reasonable person".

O'Driscoll made his ruling yesterday when dismissing a case against a Gold Coast retiree charged with sending an offensive fax to a local politician.

Denis Mulheron, 62, sent the fax to the office of Queensland MP Peta-Kaye Croft on June 30 last year.

It called on the Labor Party to tighten immigration laws against "niggers", "sandnigger terrorists" and Muslim women with circumcised genitals.

Staff member Christie Turner, 28, told Southport Magistrates Court she was deeply offended when she read the one-page document, which also made reference to indigenous Australians as "Abos".

Mulheron told the court he had grown up with the slang terms for Arabs and black Africans and did not believe they were offensive.

"I'm not a member of the cafe, chardonnay and socialist set ... to me that is everyday language," he said.

He argued it was no different to calling a New Zealander a "Kiwi" or an American a "Yank".

O'Driscoll ruled Mulheron's words were "crude and unattractive" though not offensive.

However, the reprieve shocked Queensland Premier Anna Bligh who said the term "nigger" had no place in modern Australia.

She planned to seek advice on whether vilification laws needed strengthening.

- NZPA