Judge Margaret Dodd, when sentencing Scottow said, ‘We teach our children to be kind to each other and not to call each other names, you should follow that principle. We think before we write.’ With reference to the particular Twitter exchange that prompted Hayden to contact the police she said, ‘I take the view it was unkind and abusive… you cannot hide behind excuses’
Two things that are extraordinary about this. One is the idea that being unkind should be illegal - in which case, frankly, we're all in trouble, because I doubt there is a single person alive who hasn't been unkind at some point in their life.
The second is that the judge took absolutely no account of the provocation from Kate's accuser. I have to be very careful what I say here because the person who accused Kate is notoriously litigious but I would recommend anyone who wants to know more to google Stephanie Hayden.