Online troll taunted sister of Hillsborough disaster victim, including tweet about “Jewish rapists”

An online troll who taunted a woman whose brother died in the fatal 1989 crush at Hillsborough Stadium has been sentenced.

Zakir Hussain, 28, had pleaded guilty to five counts of sending messages on a public communication network that were grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene, or menacing character. He was handed a fourteen-week jail sentence, suspended for a year, following a slew of abusive Twitter messages he posted in April 2020.

London’s Stratford Magistrates’ Court heard how the tweets targeting Louise Brookes were timed to coincide with the anniversary of the infamous disaster, with one comment referring to “Jewish rapists”.

In another tweet, he threatened to vandalise her brother Andrew’s grave with urine and faeces.

In addition to the suspended sentence, District Judge Shanta Deonarine ordered Mr Hussain to undertake 200 hours of community work and pay £500 compensation to Ms Brookes, stating that “I do find there was substantial distress caused.”

Ms Brookes spoke candidly of the effect that the trolling had taken on her mental health.

She told the court. “I suffer with depression, anxiety, panic attacks and PTSD. I have been prescribed by my GP to take Prozac and propranolol to try and control my depression, anxiety and panic attacks. I am taking the highest dose allowable,” before going on to say that there were some days that she “seriously considered killing myself because I just can’t take anymore”.