Hate groups target alleged killer

HATE groups have emerged on Facebook targeting the man accused of killing eight-year-old Queensland girl Trinity Bates.

Groups claiming he should "rot in hell" or "should not live" are attracting members.

One group in particular has attracted over 1500 members.

Many of the messages contain death threats.

The accused man's public Facebook profile has been taken down however both groups have published the 19-year-old's photograph.  

Meanwhile, Facebook users have defiled a memorial group for Trinity Bates by posting pornographic images and sexually explicit comments on a page set up to honour her memory.

There were unconfirmed reports that four people were being questioned over the online vandalism, and Queensland Police Media verified the incident was being investigated.

Thousands of Facebook users have joined five groups for Trinity since Monday and were outraged at the vulgar content.

The site administrator removed the pornographic images and comments from the site, which was later shut down.

This is the second memorial for a murdered child that has been desecrated by a Facebook user this week.

A site for stabbing victim Elliott Fletcher was vandalised with images of an African-American child’s head on a silver platter and an image of Elliott with mock spray paint above his head reading: “Woot. I’m dead”.

There were more than 7000 members of tribute groups for Trinity last night, with thousands of messages being left in her memory.

Another group was set up calling for justice to her murderer.

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