David William Wonnocott, 49, is charged with using a carriage service to menace and threaten to kill in separate incidents relating to openly gay NSW politician Alex Greenwich and Ms Higgins.

Wonnocott’s charges were mentioned briefly in the Tweed Heads Local Court on Monday, where the accused was not required to attend.

The case was adjourned for mention on September 11 for charge certification over the allegations.

Police documents allege Wonnocott’s threats are considered real and taken seriously.

“There is a serious threat that he may in fact try and carry out a threat of violence in the near future,” court documents said.

Police have records of Wonnocott’s posts, device data and victim impact statements in relation to threats and intimidation.

“It is the police view that he would be in contact with far right-wing thinking groups with radical views that practice and endorse violence towards members of specific minority groups,” the documents said.

NSW detectives began investigating in February “after receiving information about threats of violence made through a social media platform”.

“Detectives uncovered a total of 49 messages with similar threats or offensive content sent from a number of accounts, which were believed to be linked,” police said.

“One of the accounts was also linked to messages sent on social media to a man in the ACT, allegedly threatening to kill the man, his partner, and their pet dog.”

Ms Higgins received a barrage of abuse on social media after going public with allegations that she was raped by a colleague at Parliament House in 2019 when she was working for a Liberal senator.

In 2021 former Liberal Party staffer Bruce Lehrmann was charged with sexually assaulting Ms Higgins and pleaded not guilty.

A trial in the ACT Supreme Court was derailed due to juror misconduct.

The charges against him were later dropped because of concerns about the impact a second trial would have on Ms Higgins’ mental health.

Mr Lehrmann denies raping Ms Higgins.