Alicia Gardiner: Australian actor to take stand in hearing over alleged breast twist assault
Australian actor Alicia Gardiner will testify at the hearing about allegedly assaulting a staff member at Parliament House in Melbourne.
The Offspring star is accused of contorting a woman’s breast after protesters were kicked out of the public gallery on the afternoon of May 7, 2024.
Ms Gardiner denies deliberately assaulting the woman.
While Ms Gardiner disputed the claim, body-worn camera footage from police officers at the scene was presented to the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.
In the footage, protesters can be seen chanting pro-Palestinian slogans such as “free Palestine” and “from the river to the sea” as they are escorted through the building.
Prosecutors allege Ms Gardiner attacked the woman waiting at the door of the parliamentary legislative chamber shortly after 1pm.
During the trial, a witness told how he pushed a woman in blue, alleged to be Miss Gardiner, back as she tried to enter the room before seeing her “struggle” with her colleague.
“I think they wanted to go into the room and protest,” he said.
The man said seconds later police protective services officers arrived and then approached his colleague.
“Yes, he looked shaken, shocked. I was shocked too,” he said.
Miss Gardiner’s lawyer, Angeline Centrone, told the court that the contact between her client and the woman was not intentional and occurred as the woman raised her hands to support herself in the middle of a “romance”, the Herald Sun reported.
Ms Centrone said her client would testify at the hearing on Wednesday afternoon. The hearing before Judge Malcolm Thomas continues.
Ms. Gardiner is perhaps best known for her role as Kim Akerholt on Offspring.
