Neo-Nazi figure Thomas Sewell has been committed to stand trial after allegedly leading an attack on an Indigenous protest site in Melbourne last year. The 33-year-old appeared in Melbourne Magistrates Court via video link on Thursday, pleading not guilty to five charges related to the incident at Camp Sovereignty.
It is alleged Sewell led a group that stormed the site following an anti-immigration protest in the city centre in August. The men, dressed in black, allegedly held down occupants before kicking and punching them. Three people were injured, with one woman requiring staples in her scalp to close a wound.
Sewell formally pleaded not guilty to charges including violent disorder, affray and unlawful assault. He was originally charged with more than 20 offences, but prosecutors withdrew most of them during Thursday's hearing. Magistrate Donna Bakos found the evidence against Sewell sufficient to support a conviction and committed him to trial in the Victorian County Court.
Co-accused Nathan Bull also appeared in court, pleading not guilty to violent disorder, affray, assault by kicking and failing to state his name or address. Both men had their bail extended to a directions hearing in April. Three other men—Timothy Holger Lutze, Augustus Coolie Hartigan and Ryan Williams—will contest their charges in a committal hearing in May.
Blake Cathcart, also charged over the alleged attack, has pleaded guilty to violent disorder and assault with a weapon, and faces a plea hearing in August. Seven other co-accused are either contesting charges or awaiting trial, while Jaeden Johnson pleaded guilty in February.
