Federal Senate candidate Raina Jane Cruise facing trial over alleged brawl inside and outside Adelaide pub in October 2021
An anti-vax Senate candidate who says she wants a public voice that reflects her personal values claims a police officer started the violent brawl that landed her in court.
Police & Courts
Don't miss out on the headlines from Police & Courts. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A Federal Senate candidate should stand not one, but two trials over an alleged pub brawl that ended with a police officer’s hair and scalp being torn from her head, a court has heard.
On Tuesday, Informed Medical Opinions Party candidate Raina Jane Cruise faced the Adelaide Magistrates Court charged with two aggravated counts of assault.
Andrew Graham, for Ms Cruise said his client’s case was complex.
“Some bouncers were removing some people, being quite rough, and she became involved … they say she assaulted them, she says she did not,” he said.
“Later that evening, two police officers came up to speak to her outside, there was an argument about producing identification, and my client allegedly assaulted an officer.
“We say there was no assault because there were no words of arrest uttered (and) these are two separate incidents in time, and so should be the subject of two separate trials.”
Ms Cruise, 38, is charged with multiple counts of assault, failing to provide her personal details to a police officer and to resisting arrest.
She faces a maximum five-year prison term if convicted.
Previously, police have alleged the charges arise from an incident at the Exeter Hotel, on Rundle Street, in October last year.
They allege the altercation with police saw Ms Cruise grab a female officer by the hair and pulled with such force that the woman was left “without part of her scalp”.
In a video on her YouTube channel, Ms Cruise acknowledges she pulled down a bartender’s mask “which I shouldn’t have” but denies having assaulted anyone.
The female officer, she asserts, “pushed me first, and everything escalated from there”.
“If I hadn’t had a few drinks, it wouldn’t have happened … it’s not ideal, I am in a bit of trouble,” she says in the video.
On her campaign website, Ms Cruise lists political goals including ending all vaccine mandates and Covid restrictions, and removing fluoride from the water supply.
The mother of three says she “wants to be a public voice and to make some positive changes that reflect” her personal values.
She also previously posed on social media in a makeshift Covid mask bra, saying she had “worked out” how to wear them.
On Tuesday, the state’s chief magistrate, Judge Mary-Louise Hribal, adjourned Ms Cruise’s case until May.
One ‘cowardly’ thug goes free as three face fate in restaurant attack
Only one thug has escaped jail after a southern suburbs restaurant owner was set upon by a drugged-up group and hacked at with a knife.
Man charged over alleged tobacco blackmail attempt
A man has been charged after allegedly attempting to extort the owner of an Adelaide tobacco store as police continue to crack down on the city’s tobacco wars.