Liz Gunn and associate Jonathon Clark on trial at the Manukau District Court. Photo: Stuff / Lawrence Smith
This story has been updated to clarify who was quoted as describing a “sharp pain” during the airport incident.
Anti-vaccine activist Liz Gunn has been found guilty of assault following an incident at Auckland Airport in 2023.
She and her associate, cameraman Jonathon Clark, were found not guilty of resisting police.
The pair were tried over what their lawyer described as a “quick and chaotic sequence of events” at the Manukau District Court earlier in May.
The pair denied charges of assault and resisting police, while Gunn also rejected a charge of assault. She instead claimed the police had assaulted her.
As Judge Janey Forrest delivered Gunn’s guilty verdict, the public gallery - filled with supporters wearing shirts with the logo of Gunn’s fledgling political party ‘New Zealand Loyal’ - audibly scoffed, prompting a warning from the judge.
“If there is continued disruption from the public gallery, security have been asked to remove people.”
Later as Judge Forrest left the court room, some in the gallery let rip their thoughts on her verdict.
“There goes the corrupt judge, shame on you” one said, while another voiced loudly “what a joke”, before turning their attention to the journalists in court, whom they accused of being corrupt.
Gunn, visibly upset by the guilty verdict, refused to speak with media outside court.
Liz Gunn and cameraman Jonathon Clark were charged with resisting police, an Gunn with assault, after the airport incident in April 2023. Photo: Stuff / Lawrence Smith
In her full judgment released to Stuff, Judge Forrest said it was accepted that Gunn had touched airport security worker Anna Kolodeznaya on the arm with the purpose of attracting her attention.
However, Gunn’s action was “entirely self-serving and for the purposes of engaging in an ongoing verbal confrontation with the complainant while capturing the encounter on camera”.
Forrest described the interaction as “confrontational and hostile” on Gunn’s part.
“This is not a situation where one person is simply politely attempting to get the attention of another.
“In summary, Ms Gunn was arrogant, rude, overbearing, and offensive in her manner in dealing with [Kolodeznaya].”
Forrest described Gunn’s touch of Kolodeznaya’s arm as “a hostile act” - albeit at a “very low level” - done without consent, which caused her to flinch and pull away.
Forrest was also critical of the police officers who attended the incident.
“The very rapid escalation of events which occurred over only 18 seconds may have been avoided had the police engaged in constructive communication or attempted to explain the position further to [Gunn and Clark].
“I accept the evidence of both defendants that they did not initially understand what was happening to them during the arrest.”
The incident at Auckland Airport
Gunn and Clark were filming an interview in the international terminal in April 2023 when they were approached by an airport security worker and asked to stop filming.
By law, anyone wanting to film inside the airport for commercial purposes must have permission.
However, Gunn argued they were filming friends and not making any profit from the video, adding that they were no different to those filming friends and family on their cellphones.
CCTV of the incident showed Gunn explaining this to Kolodeznaya, who did not respond to Gunn’s questions regarding what law they were breaking.
During the interaction, Gunn put her hand on Kolodeznaya’s shoulder, which the security worker said caused “sharp pain”. Gunn denied the assault and said the action was akin to a gentle touch.
Liz Gunn said she nor Clark knew why they were being arrested. Photo: Stuff / Caroline Williams
Eventually the police were called. Within about 18 seconds of the officers greeting Gunn and Clark and asking them to leave, they were arrested, both falling to the floor.
Gunn said she and Clark did not know why they were being arrested.
“We didn’t know what was going on... We didn’t understand what he had done wrong. No one had explained anything to us.”
Clark described a “tug of war” with his camera between himself and constable Robert Luong, which led to the officer falling on top of him and his camera “smashed to the ground”.
“I was thrown down pretty hard.”
Jonathon Clark said his camera was "smashed" to the ground when he was arrested. Photo: Stuff / Caroline Williams
Gunn, who broke down in tears as the CCTV played in court, said police constable Erich Postlewaight assaulted her during the arrest, leaving her with a fractured wrist.
“There was a great deal of violence in the way he dealt with me. I was in a lot of pain.
"He was twice my size. He was very pumped up. He was highly aggressive."
Postlewaight said he used “minimal force” when arresting Gunn and admitted that he had not warned her that she would be arrested.
He did not believe a warning was appropriate by that stage, as the pair had already acted argumentatively and allegedly assaulted an airport staff member, he added.
Clark and Gunn were initially charged with wilful trespass, however Judge Forrest dismissed the charges during trial, as the pair were not given adequate time to the police request to leave the airport before they were arrested.
- This story was first published by Stuff