Neo-Nazi Who Allegedly Attacked Aboriginal Camp Site Enters Plea of Not Guilty to Charges of Doing Exactly What Everyone Watched Him Do

MELBOURNE – Neo-Nazi leader Thomas Sewell has been committed to stand trial in the Victorian County Court after allegedly leading a group of men dressed in black to storm an Aboriginal protest camp and assault its occupants in what prosecutors described as a violent attack and what the defendants apparently describe as a misunderstanding.

Sewell beamed into Melbourne Magistrates Court via video link on Thursday to plead not guilty to five charges including violent disorder and unlawful assault. He was originally charged with more than 20 offences but prosecutors withdrew most of them during the hearing – a process legal observers called “streamlining” and the public called “disheartening.”

The alleged attack on Camp Sovereignty reportedly left three people injured with one woman requiring staples in her scalp. The group of men allegedly held down occupants of the Indigenous camp before kicking and punching them. They were dressed in matching black which is either an organised paramilitary uniform or a very committed athleisure choice.

Co-accused Blake Cathcart has already pleaded guilty. Co-accused Nathan Bull has pleaded not guilty. A further seven co-accused are either contesting charges or proceeding to trial, creating a scheduling nightmare that the County Court has described as “complex” and everyone else has described as “a lot of Nazis for one courtroom.”

The trial will proceed to a directions hearing in April. Camp Sovereignty meanwhile remains on Wurundjeri Country and continues to exist, which appears to be its most radical act.

Community members noted that the time between the alleged attack and the trial date was roughly the same as the time between most government reconciliation commitments and their implementation.