Woman charged with assaulting senator who shouted at the king

Australian Indigenous Senator Lidia Thorpe

A woman appeared in an Australian court yesterday charged with a May assault on the Indigenous senator who shouted at King Charles III during a royal reception last week.

The assault allegedly occurred on May 25, when independent Sen. Lidia Thorpe attended an Australian Rules Football match in her hometown of Melbourne.

Ebony Bell, 28, appeared by a video link in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court. She has been charged with two counts of recklessly causing injury and three counts of unlawful assault at a stadium.

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

But she said in a statement to the AP yesterday she had “sustained serious nerve and spinal injuries in my neck, which required spinal surgery and a plate to be inserted.”

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

Bell’s lawyer Manny Nicolosi told Magistrate Belinda Franjic the prosecution case had “real deficiencies.” He said the prosecution had on Friday made an “offer,” an apparent reference to a plea deal.

“I haven’t had enough time to really consider it,” Nicolosi told the court.

Nicolosi explained that his Indigenous client hadn’t appeared in court in person because of “recent threats.” The lawyer did not elaborate on those threats.

Bell remains free on bail until she appears in court next on Nov. 22. The magistrate agreed to allow her to appear again by video.

Thorpe made her first public statement about the alleged assault after she launched an expletive-laden rant at Charles during a reception in Australian Parliament House in Canberra last week.

“You are not our king. You are not sovereign,” Thorpe yelled at Charles as she was led by security guards from the reception.

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

The main opposition party has called for Thorpe to resign from the Senate due to her attitude toward Charles, who is Australia’s head of state, and have requested legal advice. ROD McGUIRK, MELBOURNE, MDT/AP