A man has been charged after a police investigation revealed threats he allegedly made to kill former Liberal Party staffer Brittany Higgins, her fiance David Sharaz, and their pet dog.
Detectives from NSW police's terrorism investigations squad commenced investigations into a 49-year-old man after receiving information about alleged threats of violence made though a social media platform in February.
Police were already investigating the man over alleged threats to participants of an unspecified large gathering, uncovering 49 messages with similar threats or offensive content sent from a number of accounts that were all believed to be linked.
"Further inquiries revealed 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," NSW Police said.
Guardian Australia reported the messages to Mr Sharaz were revealed in a screenshot, where the alleged offender said he knew the location of the couple.
"I'm going to kill you when you least expect it," the alleged offender is accused of writing.
The 49-year-old man was arrested at Tweed Heads Police Station about 10am on Wednesday.
Detectives served the man with firearms and weapons prohibition orders, and searches of his home and vehicle were conducted.
He has since been charged with using a carriage service to threaten to kill and to menace, harass or cause offence.
The northern NSW man is due to appear at Tweed Heads Local Court on May 31, and has been granted strict conditional bail until then.
NSW Police assured the community no current or impending threat was likely as a result of the operational activity.
Ms Higgins rose to public prominence in 2021 after accusing a former colleague, Bruce Lehrmann, of raping her at Parliament House while the pair worked together for Liberal senator Linda Reynolds.
Mr Lehrmann has always maintained his innocence and there have been no findings against him.
