Vanessa Scammell

Craig was asked if there was ever such direction, request or discussion.

Finally, I will go to the magistrate's rulings in relation to this charge.

Number 421.

When he, Craig, tapped his fingers and sang during his evidence, ostensibly to determine the length of the beat, it was unnecessary.

Having played the role over many years, he was extremely familiar with all the songs.

He had the opportunity to check the song before court.

Indeed, he had said he had watched a video of the Janet Bidd scene around 20 to 25 times recently.

Unnecessary.

The point of tapping his fingers and singing the song for the magistrate was certainly not for the benefit of Craig McLachlan's own personal enjoyment.

Not only did Craig not perform this for himself or for the people who were tuned in via Webex, he sang it specifically for the magistrate in order that she gained some understanding of the timing of the song and the directions that existed within the structure of the song.

I was present during all court proceedings that were open to the public.

When Craig was asked by his barrister to perform some of the song from the I'm Going Home scene, Craig did so in a gentle sotto voce manner to demonstrate that the timing and tempo of the number would and could not allow such an assault to occur.

This deeply concerning comment and ruling indicates that this magistrate wasn't interested in grasping the reason why Craig would demonstrate this number in court.

A charge was laid against him for kissing a cast member during a song whilst singing, whilst in character, whilst carrying out directions.

How else could he demonstrate his innocence other than singing and tapping his fingers to indicate the beat to show the impossibility of such an allegation occurring?

When Craig's barrister asked him to repeat it for the court, the magistrate said words to the effect that she didn't want any singing in her court, and again the next morning made reference to it by saying, I hope there will be no singing in this court today.

This was said to an accused man and his counsel who were doing nothing more than fighting for Craig's life.

Let's go to the magistrate's rulings.

Ruling 702.

Weighing all the evidence, I find that the accused probably did tunk his C2 in the I'm going home scene, but I am not persuaded beyond a reasonable doubt that he did.