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Charges against Chaser stunt dropped

Charges against the ABC’s Chaser team arising from a TV stunt at last year’s APEC Summit have been dropped by the Department of Public Prosecutions.

Giles Hardie, a video producer who was an “extra” during the stunt, in which a fake motorcade was waved through two security checkpoints, said he was relieved at the news.

Mr Hardie, one of the extras running alongside the Chaser limousine that breached APEC security, was charged with entering an exclusion zone under laws enacted specifically for the summit in Sydney.

Ten men, including two of the show’s stars – Julian Morrow and Chas Liciardello – and one woman were charged.

“I think relief is a word that springs to mind,” Mr Hardie said.

NSW Director of Public Prosecutions Nicholas Cowdery said in a statement that the Chaser team had carried out an examination of the area on September 5, when police procedures had differed from September 6, when the stunt occurred.

“The offence is one of strict liability. Consequently, the defence of honest and reasonable mistake of fact is available to the accused,” Mr Cowdery said.

“Put another way, it is a defence to establish, or to raise a reasonable doubt that there existed, an honest and reasonable but mistaken belief in a set of facts which, if they had existed, would have rendered the conduct innocent.

“In the cases of all 11 accused I am satisfied that on the evidence presently available the prosecution would not be able to negate, beyond reasonable doubt, the existence of an honest and reasonable (but ultimately mistaken) belief that they would not enter or be taken into the restricted area.”

The matters are listed for mention in the Local Court tomorrow, when the charges will be formally withdrawn.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald

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