Six environmental activists whose protest shut down the Dunedin Railway Station have been found guilty of trespass.
Abigail Katrina Libby, 45, Bruce Bertram Mahalski, 61, Fay Margaret Brorens, 66, Timothy Richard Musson, 54, Anne Margueretta Smith, 76, and Joanne Kathleen Sutherland, 56 appeared in the Dunedin District Court this morning following a trial which began in July.
The group may now be liable for a $60,000 reparation bill, the court heard, but Judge David Robinson ordered a report to assess that.
The judge amended charges of interference under the Railways Act to trespass in today’s ruling and found all six guilty.
Musson, Smith, Mahalski and Libby were acquitted of obstruction, while Brorens pleaded guilty to the charge during the trial.
Judge Robinson did not enter convictions against the defendants, inviting counsel to file submissions on potential discharge without conviction at sentencing.
The six were arrested on December 4 in 2021, after blocking a coal train and inadvertently causing the cancellation of the Victorian excursion train to Oamaru.
Much of the incident was captured on CCTV, the court heard, and the defence at trial was based on necessity; essentially that the accused could not be guilty of the crime because they were acting to protect human life.
At the time, the group said the target of the protest was carrying 500 tonnes of coal to Fonterra’s Clandeboye factory, near Temuka, to turn milk into powder for export.
There were several people on the tracks outside the railway station and north of the St Andrew St level crossing, both in front and behind the train.
Other protesters climbed on top of carriages, the court heard.
The area’s KiwiRail operations manager at the time, Jamie McFarland, told the court that the train was unable to move forwards or backwards, and because protesters were lying on the tracks, no other locomotive could get around them because they might have been "crushed".
He said the driver of the train locked himself in - a policy developed after members of the group had previously attempted to gain access to the cab.
Mr McFarland said it was the 15th or 16th time he had responded to the group’s protest actions within a year.
Senior Sergeant Anthony Bond attended the scene and described issuing warnings to protesters both on the train and the tracks, some of whom were connected by metal devices.
Those who did not leave voluntarily were arrested.
Mr McFarland said delays lasted more than three hours and three services were cancelled as a result of Extinction Rebellion’s actions.
The coal train continued to its destination within the next two days.
Sentencing will take place in December.
