Actor Craig McLachlan has been found not guilty of charges of assault and indecent assault dating back to the 2014 production of The Rocky Horror Show.
The verdict for all 13 charges the actor was facing were announced in a Melbourne court on Tuesday. Four women had made complaints that McLachlan had made unwanted and inappropriate contact with them.
Magistrate Belinda Wallington while she accepted some of the complainants’ evidence, it did not meet the high criminal standard to prove the charges.
“I was not persuaded that there was evidence of collusion between the complainants. I was not persuaded that there was evidence of motive or that the complaints were made for reasons for career ambition or for any other such reason.” the magistrate said.
She said was unable to exclude the possibility that an “egotistical, self-entitled sense of humor” had possibly on one occasion led to McLachlan believing that the complainant had consented to his actions.
Speaking out side the offices of his lawyer McLauchlin told the media he would have more to say on the verdict in the new year.
The actor is currently pursuing defamation proceedings against the ABC and Nine over their reporting of the story.
OIP Staff
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