An activist who threw tomato juice on controversial British anti-transgender activist Posie Parker has been convicted of two counts of assault.
Eliana Golberstein, who goes by the name Eli Rubashkyn, appeared before Judge Kirsten Lummis in the Auckland District Court after the incidents during a rally at the rotunda of Auckland’s Albert Park in March last year.
Judge Lummis ordered Golberstein be convicted on the two charges of common assault but discharged them without penalty. One assault was laid for the tomato juice being thrown at Parker, whose real name is Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, and the other was related to an incident with rally organiser Tania Sturt, who had helped arrange for Parker to speak at the Let Women Speak NZ event.
The judge said it was accepted that Golberstein had done good work with transgender rights however the incidents were not a case of someone caught up in the moment. Rather, Lummis said, these were deliberate acts.
It was also pointed out that Golberstein had expressed remorse but had never apologised. The judge noted they spoke with a 1News reporter immediately after the incident and admitted what they had done.
The judge said both Golberstein and Keen-Minshull had been subject to online abuse after the events at the rally. “Both suffered,” judge Lummis said.
Golberstein’s lawyer had argued for a discharge without conviction but the judge ruled that a conviction was not an overly onerous burden on Golberstein’s ability to travel.
Rally organiser responds to sentence
Let Women Speak organiser Tania Sturt released a statement after the court appearance, saying: “In my opinion this sentence is appropriate.
“While no sentence can undo the harm done, it is my hope that this outcome brings some measure of accountability for the offender.”
Sturt further invited those who organised the protest at the Albert Park rally to explain and justify “coordinating and inciting a riot which led to me being violently assaulted”.
She also thanked the court and police for their attention to the matter.
