Vanessa Scammell

Join us next time for the companion unfiltered episode two, where Kaynie and Craig continue to talk all things not guilty in relation to backstage culture of the Rocky Horror Show, fronting up to court and being cleared in workplace investigations.

My name is Vanessa Scammell and thank you for listening to me too.

Additional music by Craig McLaughlin.

C1, Herald Sun, March 23, 2023.

Hello, my name is Vanessa Scammell and welcome to Episode 9 of Not Guilty, The Craig McLachlan Case.

In this episode, I will concentrate primarily on the magistrate and her rulings and commentary.

Rulings and commentary which could be argued have created more attention than Craig McLachlan's acquittal.

In recording this episode, I had to ask myself, how many people do you know have had to rehash and revisit a court case that delivered a not guilty verdict?

How many innocent people have had to revisit material in such forensic detail to almost try a case again in the court of public opinion?

How many people have had judicial officers make commentary that was so ruinous that future prospects of rehabilitation have been impaired?

In the Craig McLachlan case, was it because the mainstream media who published a page one story of guilt and who cemented a guilty verdict in the court of public opinion was so great that it was impossible for a not guilty verdict to cut through?

Or is it because commentary and certain rulings from a presiding magistrate has made recovery for the accused man untenable?

Or perhaps it was the combination of both of these things.

This episode finally addresses the messaging of the magistrate.

Her commentary and rulings, which have been consistently used by press and on social media to suggest that Craig McLachlan got off on a technicality.

C1 publicly stated in an article in the Sydney Morning Herald in 2023 the following.

On December 15, 2020, Craig McLaughlin was acquitted of 13 charges in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court by Magistrate Belinda Wallington.

Not enough to find the actor guilty.

100% not guilty, but the magistrate's commentary of her believing the women was used to headline Craig's acquittal.

Justice had finally been served, well, so we thought, for our feelings of relief, euphoria and thankfulness to our legal team were short-lived.