A Sydney magistrate has ruled a sign displaying the term "CVN'T" may be cheeky - but is not criminally offensive.
Well-known Sydney sandwich-board wearer Danny Lim on Friday successfully had a $500 fine overturned after he was arrested in January while wearing a sign saying "SMILE CVN'T! WHY CVN'T?".
Police handcuffed the pensioner in front of a shocked crowd in Barangaroo after a single phone complaint was lodged.
The 75-year-old was accompanied in court on Friday by his chihuahua-pomeranian called Smarty.
Sydney activist Danny Lim is seen outside of Sydney City Police Area Command. Source: AAP
Magistrate Jacqueline Milledge, who was highly critical of the arresting officers' behaviour, said the law was concerned with what would offend the "hypothetical reasonable person".
"It's not someone who is thin-skinned, who is easily offended," she said in Downing Centre Local Court.
"It's someone who can ride out some of the crudities of life. (The sign is) provocative and cheeky but it is not offensive."
Ms Milledge said she personally didn't like some signs and ads that played on the c-word or f-word.
But she noted the "overwhelming opinion" of people in the public square at the time of Mr Lim's arrest and said he meant no harm and was not harmful or offensive.
She said the sign could easily be read as to-and-fro conversation: "Smile! Can't. Why? Can't."
With Smarty on his lap, Mr Lim earlier told the court the sign in question was intended to make people smile and think.
"When you go to Barangaroo on Monday, Tuesday or Saturday they don't smile," he said.
"We need Australia to smile again."
He said his various "CVN'T" signs had become his trademark after he was given a fine - later overturned - for a similar board targeting Tony Abbott in 2015.
That sign used an inverted A in the word "can't" and said "TONY YOU CAN'T. LIAR, HEARTLESS, CRUEL" and "TONY YOU CAN'T SCREW EDUCATION."
Sydney activist Danny Lim. Source: AAP
The court was shown photographs of Mr Lim, wearing his various signs, next to Malcolm Turnbull, Bill Shorten, Labor Senator Kristina Keneally and conservative Senator Cory Bernardi.
Under cross-examination, he said he was aware some people found his signs offensive.
"Everyone thinks differently; it's only a few of them compared to thousands of them (not taking offence)," he said.
But he disagreed that, in a roundabout way, he was using the c-word. Mr Lim said he had the "highest respect" for that word.
Police prosecutor Rick Mansley, who also had Smarty on his lap during some of the hearing, argued that unlike the f-word, the c-word couldn't be used as an adjective or verb and had only one use: to be offensive.
"How can the court say the standards of society have sunk so low?" he said.
When Mr Lim was confronted by police in January more than a dozen people - some filming on their phones - surrounded the officers and told them the sign wasn't offensive.
A police body camera tendered to the court recorded the acting sergeant labelling the bystanders "f***ing pathetic ... social justice warriors".
Ms Milledge, a former police prosecutor, said she understood policing wasn't an exact science but admonished Senior Constable Anthony Hands for describing "a gathering of ordinary citizens" thus.
She said while Mr Lim had told police they would have to arrest him, he was compliant.
However, the handcuffs they used caused bruising as well as bleeding to one of his wrists and his sign was ripped off him. It was "unnecessary and very heavy-handed," she said.
Mr Lim's pro-bono lawyer, Bryan Wrench, says they may sue police over the arrest but, for now, will savour Friday's victory.
With AAP...
