Greens candidate injured in protest to fight charges
Former Greens candidate Hannah Thomas has pleaded not guilty to charges relating to an allegedly unauthorised protest where she sustained a serious eye injury.
A former Greens candidate who ran against the prime minister will fight charges over an allegedly unauthorised protest during which she suffered a serious eye injury while being arrested.
Hannah Thomas, 35, was charged with hindering or resisting police and two counts of refusing to comply with a move-on direction in a protest at SEC Plating in Sydney’s southwest on June 27.
Her lawyer, Stewart O’Connell, entered pleas of not guilty to the charges during a brief hearing at Bankstown Local Court on Tuesday.
Thomas did not appear in court.
The NSW Director of Public Prosecutions had taken over Thomas’ matter from police, DPP solicitor Chris Allison confirmed during the hearing.
Thomas, an activist and lawyer, was among five people arrested during the protest.
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They were rallying outside an Australian firm reportedly linked to the manufacture of components for US fighter jets used by the Israeli Defence Forces.
The arrests are subject to an internal NSW Police review, with external oversight by the police watchdog, after Thomas suffered an eye injury requiring surgery.
The other four protesters – Zachary Schofield, 26, Shane Reside, 41, Brandon Eid, 24, and Holly Zhang, 29 – all pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to various charges relating to the protest and their arrests.
Zhang and Schofield have both been accused of refusing or failing to comply with a police direction, while Schofield faces a further charge of hindering or resisting police.
Eid has been charged with larceny and goods in custody suspected to be stolen, while Reside was hit with a single count of using offensive language in a public place.
Police prosecutors will run all of the matters, however, the DPP can elect to take over Eid’s case, which contains a more serious allegation of larceny.
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Another of Thomas’ lawyers, Peter O’Brien, said on Monday she might permanently lose vision in her injured eye.
He has reviewed footage of the arrest and alleged a male officer “punched” Thomas in the face.
“The charge of resisting police could never be sustained as the police officers were plainly acting outside of the execution of their duties … with brutal and life-changing consequences,” O’Brien said in a statement.
Police had misunderstood the law and unlawfully applied move-on directions, he claimed.
O’Brien has also flagged a civil suit on Thomas’ behalf against the state over a number of allegations, including assault and battery, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, misfeasance in public office, and collateral abuse of process.
NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Brett McFadden has previously said he did not observe any misconduct in the body-worn camera footage of the incident.
The officers involved remain on duty.
Protesters returned to SEC Plating on Friday evening for another rally, where a statement from Thomas was read out.
“We owe it to Palestinians to escalate, to keep targeting companies like SEC Plating, which play a role in the F-35 global supply chain and enable genocide against the Palestinian people,” she said.
Thomas ran second to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in the inner-west Sydney seat of Grayndler at the May federal election.
