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Gerry Brownlee MP Ordered To Pay $8500 For Assault
In the District Court at Auckland Native Forest Action campaigner Neil Able has been awarded $8500 in damages against National MP Gerry Brownlee for being manhandled out of a National Party meeting.
RNZ has reported that after the decision of the court was delivered, Mr Brownlee said it had been a “humbling experience” sitting in court for the past two days. He also told reporters he accepted the damages award as “fair”.
The judge - also according to RNZ - said that the failure of the police to act on a complaint was an irrelevant consideration.
The judge said Mr Brownlee’s assault did not warrant “exemplary” damages of $60,000 sought by Able.
$8500 was sufficient to condemn the defendant, he said, remarking also that Mr Brownlee had already been published through the public embarrassment of the prosecution.
ENDS
Alastair Thompson
Scoop Publisher
Alastair Thompson is the co-founder of Scoop. He is of Scottish and Irish extraction and from Wellington, New Zealand. Alastair has 24 years experience in the media, at the Dominion, National Business Review, North & South magazine, Straight Furrow newspaper and online since 1997. He is the winner of several journalism awards for business and investigative work.
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