A 47-year-old Perth man has been fined $4,000, plus court costs, after pleading guilty over a series of disturbing flyers targeting members of the city’s LGBTQIA+ community.
Garath James Mouncey appeared in Perth Central Law Courts and admitted seven counts of leaving an indecent or obscene article in a public place.
The court heard that Mouncey produced and distributed flyers containing false and harmful allegations about LGBTQIA+ people.
Prosecutors outlined seven incidents between November 2025 and March 2026. The materials were found across Victoria Park, Dianella, Wembley, East Perth, Mount Hawthorn and Perth’s central business district.
Magistrate Angus Hockton said residents were likely to have been alarmed by the material appearing in their neighbourhoods. He said the persistence of the conduct warranted a significant deterrent, with each charge carrying a maximum penalty of $5,000.
Mouncey was fined $4,000 and ordered to pay court costs. The court also issued a forfeiture order covering the flyers.
OUTinPerth, which first reported on the flyer campaign, approached Mouncey outside court and asked why he had distributed the material. He declined to answer.
Court hears claims of possible paranoid delusions
Mouncey was charged in May after an investigation involving detectives from the State Security Investigation Group and Perth Detectives.
Police had received about 40 reports concerning the distribution of thousands of flyers across the Perth metropolitan area between July 2024 and March 2026.
On 29 April 2026, officers executed a search warrant at a residence in Gosnells and seized electronic devices.
The court was told Mouncey believed he was being persecuted by particular individuals and might have been experiencing paranoid delusions.
However, no further clinical evidence or explanation supporting that claim was presented to the court.
Flyers used images without consent
The flyers contained false and defamatory claims about people within Perth’s LGBTQIA+ community.
Some used photographs taken from social media without the individuals’ consent. Versions distributed earlier in the year reportedly featured an unidentified man alongside a second image showing an intimate act.
Other flyers allegedly published people’s names, photographs and residential addresses.
Police confirmed in March that they were investigating several reports involving flyers displaying images of LGBTQIA+ people alongside false accusations of crimes including drug trafficking and child sexual abuse.
One person targeted by the campaign told OUTinPerth that they initially reported the flyers to police but were advised that officers could do little under the laws available at the time.
After months of continued targeting and doxing, the victim went to another police station, where the complaint was progressed.
The court case ultimately proceeded under laws prohibiting indecent or obscene articles from being left in public places, rather than legislation specifically addressing vilification based on sexuality or gender identity.
Renewed calls for stronger vilification laws
LGBTQIA+ advocates say the case demonstrates the continuing gaps in Western Australia’s protections against vilification, harassment and identity-based abuse.
Western Australia has criminal laws addressing racial vilification, but advocates have argued that equivalent state protections covering sexual orientation, gender identity, sex characteristics, religion and disability remain incomplete.
In February, Western Australian Attorney-General Tony Buti described the flyers as “abhorrent” and said targeted harassment had no place in the state.
He said the Government was considering recommendations to expand existing anti-vilification provisions and intended to introduce new equal-opportunity legislation improving civil protections against vilification and harassment.
However, by June, a government bill had still not appeared. Legislative Council member Brian Walker instead tabled an exposure draft intended to encourage community consultation on possible reforms.
The flyer campaign emerged amid wider concerns about anti-LGBTQIA+ activity in Perth, including reports of anti-transgender stickers appearing around Subiaco and neighbouring suburbs.
Advocates say Mouncey’s conviction provides some accountability for those targeted, but does not remove the need for comprehensive laws directly addressing vilification based on sexuality and gender identity.
