Liz Gunn successfully appeals assault conviction after airport scuffle caught on CCTV
Anti-vaccine activist Liz Gunn has had her conviction for assault set aside by a High Court Judge after she was earlier found guilty of assaulting an airport security worker.
Last year, Judge Janey Forrest refused to grant Gunn a discharge without conviction, after she was found guilty of assault following an incident at Auckland Airport in 2023.
Central to the case was whether Gunn had committed an assault when she tried to capture a security guard’s attention, by touching her arm, during a discussion about whether Gunn and her associate Jonathon Clark had permission to film at the airport.
Judge Forrest ruled that the touch was a “low level” assault, as Gunn did not have implied consent to touch the security guard during the “hostile” interaction.
Gunn subsequently appealed to the High Court and on Thursday, and Justice Mary Peters found that Judge Forrest had erred in her decision “to such an extent that a miscarriage of justice has occurred”.
Ok, on one hand, you are genuinely relieved that the check and balance of Appeal has worked, because the bullshit manner in which the State went about claiming Liz Gunn assaulted staff was simply farcical from the get go.
Sure she’s as mad as an antivaxx snake, but come on, it wasn’t assault and it didn’t justify the bullshit over reaction.
So good, justice has worked and Steve Braunias does an amazing job of highlighting how stupid the case was.
The problem is that the win gives her a platform to play the martyr and attempt to justify some sort of grander conspiracy re vaccines etc etc etc.
So good this nonsense has been put to bed, bad that the rabbit hole is about to be fed.
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Fuck another ferral with another banjo string to twang .
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