Victory for Nick Patterson: VicPol Evidence Ruled Inadmissible
Nick Patterson of the Australian Peacemakers whose MMA business was destroyed by the Victorian lockdowns has succeeded in his bid to have Victoria Police (VicPol) evidence thrown out at a pre-trial hearing. Patterson had been charged with assaulting Victorian Police officers while defending his friend Jason Reeves whom officers charged at during an anti-lockdown protest on 29 May 2021.
At a pre-trial hearing County Court Judge Liz Gaynor ruled that the VicPol bodycam footage and statements are inadmissible at trial. This ruling sees the VicPol case against Nick Patterson effectively collapse. Patterson is now planning to sue VicPol as their officers dislocated his shoulder and imprisoned him for 29 days, yet he was the one charged.
Judge Gaynor in her judgement was extremely scathing of VicPol’s conduct calling the improperity by police reckless and Nick’s friend Jason Reeves presented no threat to police and did not warrant the violence they inflicted on against him. It also should have been clear to police that their violence against Mr Reeves would likely incite a response from Mr Patterson. If Nick Patterson had been convicted of the charges VicPol brought against him of assaulting an emergency worker on duty, common law assault and resisting an emergency worker on duty he would have faced a mandatory minimum of 5 years imprisonment.
VicPol cases against anti-lockdown activists Monica Smit, Topher Field Zoe Buhler, Sol Millin, Jemal Abazi, Simon Timothy, Marty Focker, Sam Cowley and Nick Patterson’s co-accused Jason Reeves and Adam Roob have all collapsed before they made it to trial. These activists believe they have been vindicated that VicPol’s conduct in enforcing lockdowns was not lawful. But the legal warfare they have all endured is a punishment in itself with bail conditions and legal fees accumulated restricting their freedoms despite our legal system supposedly meant to uphold their presumption of innocence.
Nick Patterson can now move forward in his life without the threat of a lengthy prison sentence which would have separated him from his wife and children. But he still wants VicPol to be brought to justice for what they did to him.
