{"id":391957,"date":"2026-04-22T10:46:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T10:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/391957\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T10:46:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T10:46:09","slug":"prosecutors-drop-breast-grab-charge-against-actor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/391957\/","title":{"rendered":"Prosecutors drop breast-grab charge against actor"},"content":{"rendered":"

An actor cleared of grabbing a parliament<\/a> worker’s breast during a protest<\/a> says she will continue to speak up for what she believes in.<\/p>\n

Alicia Gardiner, known for her roles in the television series Offspring and Deadloch, was originally charged with unlawful assault over the incident at the Victorian parliament on May 7, 2024.<\/p>\n

But prosecutors sensationally withdrew the charge this afternoon, midway through a contested hearing at Melbourne Magistrates Court.<\/p>\n

\"AliciaAlicia Gardiner, known for her roles in the television series Offspring and Deadloch, faced Melbourne Magistrates Court today over the alleged assault at Victoria’s Parliament House. (Nine)<\/p>\n

Gardiner admitted she was among a group of pro-Palestine protesters who crashed the Victorian treasurer’s budget speech, chanting and holding signs in the public gallery.<\/p>\n

As they were escorted out, it was alleged Gardiner tried to enter the legislative chamber but was stopped by two workers blocking the door.<\/p>\n

Gardiner was accused of pushing one of the workers before grabbing and twisting the woman’s left breast.<\/p>\n

The complainant, who asked not to be named, gave evidence over several hours, telling the court she felt a sharp pain like a knife and was in a state of shock.<\/p>\n

“My view was she broke the girl code and twisted my breast,” the complainant told the court this morning.<\/p>\n

The woman told the court Gardiner had stared at her intently before bending her head down and coming at her with her hands up.<\/p>\n

\"GardinerGardiner is known for her roles in the television series Offspring and Deadloch. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

The complainant admitted she put her own hands up to stop Gardiner from entering the legislative chamber.<\/p>\n

“I had my hand on her and then I had the sharp pain,” the complainant told the court.<\/p>\n

Before the lunch break, magistrate Malcolm Thomas noted it would be open for him to conclude there was a grabbing or twisting of the breast.<\/p>\n

But once the parties returned to court at 2pm, the prosecutor applied to withdraw the assault charge.<\/p>\n

He did not give a reason for the withdrawal.<\/p>\n

Gardiner’s lawyer Angeline Centrone said her client would plead guilty to the remaining charge of refusing to leave a parliamentary precinct.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/The court released bodycam footage from the day of the parliament demonstration. (Nine)<\/p>\n

Centrone told the court Gardiner had always denied the assault allegation but she accepted she did not leave the parliament when told.<\/p>\n

The lawyer noted it was her client’s first time before the court and, given her prior good character, a good behaviour bond or fine without conviction would be appropriate.<\/p>\n

Centrone noted the life of an actor meant finances could be quite lean and Gardiner was relying on her savings.<\/p>\n

Thomas said that sounded similar to the life of a barrister as he fined Gardiner $500 without conviction.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/The complainant, who asked not to be named, gave evidence over several hours, telling the court she felt a sharp pain like a knife and was in a state of shock. (Nine)<\/p>\n

Outside court, Gardiner told reporters she had spent the past two years denying the assault and police had finally withdrawn the charges.<\/p>\n

“I pled guilty today to the charge of failure to leave the parliamentary precinct,” she read from a statement.<\/p>\n

“I was there to give voice to something important and I will continue to speak up for what I believe in.”<\/p>\n

She refused to take questions as she walked from the court precinct.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An actor cleared of grabbing a parliament worker’s breast during a protest says she will continue to speak…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":391958,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[430,156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-391957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=391957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/391958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=391957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=391957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=391957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}