News & Current Affairs
18.03.19
Fraser Anning may end up with more than egg on his face
I assume, like me, most of you had a bit of a chuckle at the footage of Senator Fraser Anning getting ‘egged’ by young Will Connolly (affectionately known a “Egg Boy”) on Saturday.
I don’t want to comment on the deplorable things the senator said that led to the media event and no-doubt motivated the egging, (there’s not a great deal that can be done about it, but I expect the electorate will take their revenge when they get the chance), but I want to focus on the actions of the Senator afterwards.
Whilst it was Will who got led off in handcuffs by the police, the reaction of Senator Anning to the egging may well result in criminal charges against him.
There are multiple angles of footage showing Senator Anning slapping and hitting young Egg Boy. Whilst the Senator has insisted he was defending himself, that assertion doesn’t really pass the smell test – at least beyond the first slap. For conduct to be deemed to be self-defence the accused person has to believe the conduct was necessary to defend themselves and the conduct has to be reasonable, in the circumstances.
Whilst the Senator may be okay on the first slap. The subsequent slap/hit is, it appears, unreasonable. By that stage the Senator would have surely appreciated it was an egg that had been cracked on him (and nothing more dangerous) and the pimply-faced kid in front of him posed no real threat. Despite that, the Senator continued to lash out at Egg Boy. The actions of the goons who jump on the seventeen-year-old and restrained him in a head-lock are equally problematic.
17-year-old boy slams an egg onto Senator Fraser Anning's head
Christchurch Terror: A 17-year-old boy was arrested after allegedly slamming an egg on Fraser Anning's head at a speaking event at Moorabbin today. The teenager has since been released pending further inquiries. Meanwile, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has condemned comments from Senator Fraser Anning blaming the Islamic community for the New Zealand mosque shooting, saying they are "appalling and they're ugly and they have no place in Australia".www.7plus.com.au/news #FraserAnning #7News
Posted by 7 News Melbourne on Friday, 15 March 2019
It’s not clear, at this stage, whether Will is going to be charged for egging the Senator. If he is, I expect there will be a long line of lawyers willing to act for him – myself included. The community has already set-up a GoFundMe Page that has raised for than $20,000.00.
Police are apparently investigating “the incident…in its entirety”. This includes the actions of Senator Anning.
His comments today, don’t really assist him in the claim he was defending himself: “He got a slap across the face, which is what his mother should have given him long ago, because he’s been misbehaving badly.” That appears to be a reference to the very deliberate infliction of force and not a knee-jerk reaction out of self-defence.
Keep an eye on this story as it develops. It’s bound to be eggs-ceptionally interesting.