Former Greens candidate Hannah Thomas, who sustained a critical eye injury during her arrest at an anti-Israel protest, has announced that she will be pursuing civil action against NSW Police.
She announced her intentions shortly after prosecutors dropped all charges against her.
In June, Thomas, alongside four other people, were arrested after they rallied outside of SEC Plating in Belmore, which protestors claimed supplied plating for F-35 jets used by the Israeli Defence Force. The company has since denied this claim.
During the arrests, Thomas suffered a serious facial injury, for which her lawyer Peter O’Brien has said was “still affected and the outcome of that [injury] is still unknown”.
While in hospital, the former Greens candidate was charged with hindering or resisting police and two counts of refusing to comply with a move-on direction in what they allege was an unauthorised protest, 9News reports.
According to The Sydney Morning Herald, Thomas was also charged with using an emergency anti-riot power, which was introduced after the 2005 Cronulla riots to “assist police to prevent and defuse large-scale public disorder”.
On Tuesday, prosecutors dropped all charges against Thomas at Bankstown Local Court.
NSW Police told ABC News they dropped the charges “following legal advice”, and didn’t provide any further comment on the matter as the arrest has been declared a critical incident.
“As the matter is subject of an ongoing critical incident investigation, no further comment will be provided,” NSW Police told the publication.
However, the other four protesters arrested alongside Thomas — Zachary Schofield, 26, Shane Reside, 41, Brandon Eid, 24, and Holly Zhang, 29 — all pleaded not guilty.
Hannah Thomas to launch civil action against NSW Police
Following the dismissal of her charge, Thomas’ lawyer, Peter O’Brien, confirmed that she will be pursuing a civil case against the force, and that he expected the officer involved to be charged, the SMH reports.
Speaking to reporters outside of Bankstown Local Court on Tuesday, the former Greens candidate said she was relieved that her charges were dropped. However, she added that it was “far from justice” as four people are still facing charges, and that NSW Police hadn’t been “held to account for their behaviour”.
“The punch I sustained was just one example [of] police brutality that morning, the actions of every cop at that protest should be reviewed [and] criminal and disciplinary consequences should follow,” she said, per the SMH.
“It took the police two days to charge me, but 73 days later, the male police officer who punched me in the head with enough force to rip open my right eyeball has not been charged, and to the best of my knowledge, he remains in uniform prowling the streets of western Sydney.
“If he was willing to punch me in the face in front of so many witnesses and with people filming, I shudder to think what he is doing when no one’s watching.”
O’Brien also said they will be seeking legal costs for the proceedings from NSW Police.
In June, following the incident, NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Brett McFadden told ABC News that he had a “preliminary review of the body-worn video with a number of commanders and one of our operations experts” and found “no information at this stage that… indicates any misconduct on behalf of my officers.”
However, a day later, McFadden declared Thomas’ arrest a “Level 2 critical incident”, meaning that NSW Police will be overseeing an investigation into the incident.
As for the other four people arrested alongside Thomas, their cases are currently ongoing.
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