Woman charged with attacking Australian senator who shouted at king

MELBOURNE, Australia — A woman appeared in an Australian court Monday accused of attacking an Indigenous senator in May who shouted at King Charles III during a royal reception last week.

The attack allegedly occurred on May 25 while independent senator Lydia Thorpe was attending an Australian rules football match in her home city of Melbourne.

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

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

But she told the AP on Monday that she “sustained severe nerve and spinal injuries in her neck, requiring spinal surgery and plate placement.”

The attack 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 Judge Belinda Franich there were “real flaws” in the prosecution’s case. He said the prosecution made an “offer” on Friday, apparently referring to a plea deal.

“I haven’t had enough time to seriously think about it,” Nicolosi told the court.

Nicolosi explained that his Indigenous client did not appear in court in person due to “recent threats.” The lawyer did not specify the essence of these threats.

Bell remains free on bail until her court appearance on November 22. The magistrate agreed to allow her to appear in court again via video link.

Thorpe made her first public statement about the alleged attack since she launched into an expletive-laden rant at Charles during 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 security guards from the front desk.

“You committed genocide of our people. Give us back our land. Give us back 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 over her views on Charles, who is Australia’s head of state, and has sought legal advice.

Thorpe is known for loud protests. When she was confirmed as a senator in 2022, she was not allowed to refer to the then-monarch as “colonizing Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.” Last year she briefly blocked a police platform at Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Madri Gras by lying in the street in front of it. Last year she was also banned for life from a Melbourne strip club after video emerged of her shouting abuse at male patrons.

She spoke about her injuries after The Australian newspaper reported she had missed 16 of 44 Senate meetings this year.

“I was banned from travel by my doctor and was unable to attend parliament after my injury and while recovering from surgery. My doctor advised me to take time off from work,” her statement said.

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

Thorpe was widely criticized for disrespecting the monarch during her outburst last week.

She faces further backlash next week when senators sit for the first time since the royal visit.

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

She also raised questions about the legality of her Senate appointment when she recently said she deliberately affirmed her allegiance to Queen Elizabeth II and her “hair” rather than her “heirs” during her 2022 confirmation ceremony to exclude Charles. Thorpe later refuted this claim, saying the mispronunciation was an accident.

Legal experts agree that the mispronunciation did not invalidate the endorsement and that Thorpe also signed a written version of the endorsement with 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 the chamber in Parliament’s Great Hall.