A man has admitted posting sick messages about tragic Mikaeel Kular his conviction coming on the very day a blitz on internet trolls was launched by prosecutors.
Shaun Moth, from Aberdeenshire, was detained after posting grossly offensive comments on Facebook about little Mikaeel.
The boy’s body was found in woodland in Kirkcaldy in January after being beaten to death at his Edinburgh home by his mother, Rosdeep Adekoya.
Moth, 45, of Whitehills, launched a tirade of abuse about Mikaeel on Facebook the day before the three-year-old boy’s body was discovered.
He pleaded guilty to conducting himself in a disorderly manner, posting grossly offensive comments on Facebook and breaching the peace which was aggravated by religious prejudice when he appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court on Thursday.
Sheriff Summers remanded Moth in custody, stating that it is almost unimaginable that he will deal with the case in any other way other than custody.
Moth appeared in court on the same day the Crown Office published new guidance on whether messages posted online constitute a crime.
On Tuesday, Markinch man David Perrie was fined £500 at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court for causing offence to the family of missing Glenrothes man Allan Bryant.
Perrie, who is the second internet troll to target the Bryant family this year, admitted uploading images online of a figure wearing a mask depicting 24-year-old Allan, featured a caption claiming: “I’ve found him, he’s on a mad one”.
Allan’s dad, Allan Snr, told The Courier: “This policy should have been put in place well before now.”
The social media prosecution blueprint has been drawn up by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) in order to “provide absolute clarity” on the types of online communications that amount to criminal conduct.
A COPFS spokeswoman said “a robust approach” would be taken in Scotland to all communications posted via social media if they are criminal in content “in the same way as in the non-virtual world”.
For more on this story, see Friday’s Courier or try our digital edition.