Ex-Yan Yean Liberal candidate Meralyn Klein accused of polling booth assault

Details of an alleged assault on a polling booth volunteer have been revealed, with a disendorsed rival shocking witnesses during the scuffle.

Meralyn Klein is fighting assault charges after being accused of elbowing a volunteer at a polling booth.

A veteran Labor MP claims she’s never seen a more aggressive candidate after a disendorsed Liberal rival allegedly assaulted a volunteer at a polling booth.

Former Yan Yean candidate and Nillumbik councillor Meralyn Klein pleaded not guilty to an assault charge after she allegedly elbowed independent volunteer Deborah Worsley-Pine at a Whittlesea pre-poll booth during the 2018 state election.

Labor MP Danielle Green said she saw the assault, claiming Ms Klein was the most aggressive candidate she’d seen in 20 years of campaigning.

“I saw Ms Klein strike Ms Worsley-Pine … she extended an elbow and got her in her side,” Ms Green told Heidelberg Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.

“I was quite shocked, I’d never seen that happen to someone else at a polling place.”

The court heard Ms Klein had been “provocative” and “petty” at the Church St voting booth and asked Ms Green’s husband – who has had many skin cancers removed – how his AIDS was going.

“I saw what I saw,” Ms Green said.

MP Danielle Green witnessed the alleged assault.

In a police statement, Ms Worsley-Pine claimed she was targeted having discussed Ms Klein’s disendorsement on a radio program on the morning of the alleged assault.

“Meralyn had been disendorsed by the Liberal Party … but the Liberal signs were still up endorsing her all over the electorate,” Ms Worsley-Pine told the court.

“That’s why I rang up, to say the Liberal people hadn’t pulled down their signs.”

The volunteer said she was winded after being elbowed and reported it to police ­because she was “sick of walking away” and not standing up for herself.

“The defendant was very aggressive in talking to people at the booth, very aggressive to everyone there that was not on her team,” she said.

“The woman needs to take pause about her behaviour and the only way she is going to do that is if I report it.”

Ms Klein denied the assault, stating she became aware of the allegation only when police told her a complaint had been made.

“I have never even heard of this person (Ms Worsley-Pine) and I’m looking at her today … saying I don’t recall her at all,” Ms Klein told the court.

She also claimed Ms Green’s husband made “sexually explicit” comments to her, and police were called to the booth after the Labor MP refused to move her campaigning away from a neighbouring cafe.

Meralyn Klein has denied assaulting independent volunteer Deborah Worsley-Pine.

A Liberal volunteer on the day of the alleged assault, Ross Bellos, supported Ms Klein’s version of events, stating he was “appalled” by the behaviour of Ms Green and her ­supporters.

“There was strong intimidation tactics against Ms Klein, they were baiting her … (but) she always walked away,” he said.

Mr Bellos said Ms Green was a “ringleader” giving out commands to her “sharks” at the voting booth.

When the prosecution asked if that was a “gross exaggeration”, he replied: “She’s a gross person, have you met her? Have you met her husband?”

Magistrate Andrew Halse will hand down his decision on Tuesday.