A man has been cleared of assaulting a police officer in a violent confrontation outside a church where conservative politician Mark Latham was invited to speak.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
As the then-NSW One Nation leader prepared to make an address at St Michael's Church Belfield, in Sydney's southwest on March 21 2023, a religiously motivated counter-protest started in the street in response to an LGTBQI activist group.
On Friday, police officers who attended the scene told Bankstown Local Court they were outnumbered by the mob.
"I am thinking if this turns, and they decide they don't like the police, we are sitting ducks," Senior Constable Stephen Richards said.
Multiple videos of the street protests were played as evidence, showing Adam Richard Touma among a group yelling anti-gay slurs such as fa***t.
The 42-year-old was charged with assaulting a police officer during public disorder, hindering or resisting an officer in the execution of duty and affray.
Constable Jake Redston told the court that Touma made it difficult for police to carry out their duties.
"The volume of people and the aggressiveness of people ... he was not helping whatsoever, he was making it difficult along with a number of people," he said.
But Magistrate Shane McAnulty ruled in Touma's favour, dismissing the charges, noting prosecutors failed to prove he assaulted police.
The decision marks the end of criminal proceedings over the incident.
Charlie Garcia, 41, had his common assault charge dropped in May 2023 with no findings made against him.
Christian Sukkar, 35, is the only man to have pleaded guilty for his part in the protests on Margaret Street at Belfied.
Sukkar admitted encouraging the commission of crime and was sentenced to a conditional release order for two years without conviction in June 2023.
Australian Associated Press
