A man will face court after he allegedly sent racist and offensive messages to senator Nova Peris on Facebook.
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Chris Nelson, a chiropractor and osteopath from Woy Woy on the NSW central coast, was arrested and charged on Monday afternoon after posts on the Olympic gold medallist's Facebook page, appearing to come from his account, called Ms Peris a "black c---" and told her to "f--- off" and "go back to the bush and suck on witchity [sic] grubs".'
"Stop painting your f---ing face with white s--- in parliament," the first post added, in a screen grab shared by Ms Peris. "Other than being a runner you are nothing."
"So as I've said before f--- off you black c--- we don't need or want you."
Police arrested Mr Nelson, 64, at his business on Victoria Road in Woy Woy at 1pm on Monday.
He was taken to Gosford Police Station and charged with using a carriage service to cause offence.
Mr Nelson was granted conditional bail and will appear at Gosford Local Court on June 21.
He has denied making the posts, telling News Corp on Monday morning that his Facebook and Instagram accounts, since deleted, had been "hacked" and he was horrified when he saw what had been written.
"I found out about this about 5.30 on Saturday afternoon when Facebook sent me a notification that someone had spammed my account. I did have an Instagram account, and that vile message had gone out on that account as well," he told the Central Coast Express Advocate.
"I was clearly hacked. I'm the victim of a really horrible and extremely vicious hacking."
Mr Nelson said he, in turn, had contacted police after he received messages calling him a "c---".
"I've had so many threats like 'die, you c---'. Police have been alerted about this … and I've got my business alarmed," he said.
"I'm definitely not a racist. I've got friends who are Aboriginal and family who are Aboriginal.
"But the damage has already been done to me. My business name has already trashed by the online haters. I had already been making plans to retire, so this may bring it forward now."
After the posts were publicised by Ms Peris, a petition urging Police to investigate the posts was signed more than 7000 times.
