Woman accused of attacking Australian senator who shouted at the king

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) – A woman appeared in an Australian court Monday accused of the May attack on an Indigenous senator who he shouted at King Charles III last week during the royal reception.

The attack allegedly took place on May 25, when it gained independence Senator Lydia Thorpe she attended an Australian rules football match in her hometown of Melbourne.

Ebony Bell, 28, appeared via video link in the Melbourne Magistrates Court. She was charged with two counts of recklessly causing injury and three counts of unlawful assault at the stadium.

In a statement, police described the 51-year-old senator’s injuries from the alleged assault as “minor.”

But in a statement to the AP on Monday, she said she “suffered severe nerve and spinal injuries in her neck that required spinal surgery and plate insertion.”

The assault was reported to police the following day and Bell was arrested on July 25. The women knew each other, but the motives for the alleged attack were not explained in court.

Bell’s lawyer, Manny Nicolosi, told Judge Belinda Franjic that the prosecution’s case had “real flaws.” He said prosecutors made an “offer” on Friday, a clear reference to the plea deal.

“I didn’t have enough time to really think about it,” Nicolosi told the court.

Nicolosi explained that his indigenous client did not appear in person in court due to “recent threats.” The lawyer did not explain these threats in detail.

Bell remains free on bail pending a November 22 court appearance. The judge agreed to allow her to appear again via video.

Thorpe made her first public statement about the alleged assault after she launched a profanity-laced tirade at Charles at a reception at the Australian Parliament House in Canberra last week.

“You are not our king. You are not sovereign,” Thorpe shouted at Charles as she was led away by front desk security guards.

“You have committed genocide against our nation. Give us back our land. Give us back what you stole from us: our bones, our skulls, our children, our people,” she added.

The main opposition party called on Thorpe to resign from the Senate over her attitude towards Charles, who is Australia’s head of state, and sought legal advice.

Thorpe is famous for its high-profile protest actions. When she became a senator in 2022, she was not allowed to describe the then-monarch as “the colonizing Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.” Last year, she briefly blocked a police float in Sydney’s gay and lesbian Madri Gras district by lying down in the street in front of it. Last year she was also banned for life from a Melbourne strip club after a video surfaced online showing her shouting insults at male patrons.

She revealed her injuries after an Australian newspaper reported she had missed 16 of 44 Senate meeting days this year.

“The doctor advised me to refrain from traveling and I was unable to attend parliament after my injury and while recovering from surgery. The doctor told me to take time off from work,” her statement reads.

“I would prefer to keep this matter to myself and will not comment further on it at this stage,” she added.

Thorpe was widely criticized for being disrespectful to the monarch during her outburst last week.

He will face further backlash next week when senators take their seats for the first time since then royal visit.

Her office said Monday that she had not yet decided whether she planned to attend Senate committee meetings in person or remotely.

She also raised questions about the validity of her Senate nomination when she recently stated that she had intentionally reaffirmed her allegiance Queen Elizabeth II and her “hair” and not her “heirs” at the 2022 affirmation ceremony designed to exclude Charles. Thorpe later backtracked on this statement, claiming that the mispronunciation was accidental.

The lawyers agree that mispronunciation does not invalidate the statement and that Thorpe also signed a written version of the acknowledgment of allegiance that included the correct wording.

University of Sydney constitutional lawyer Anne Twomey said the Senate’s ability to punish Thorpe was limited because her outburst occurred outside Parliament’s Great Hall.