Len Richards Responds To Alleged Assault Claims
Television coverage by TVNZ that was shown on the TV1 news gives lie to the claims made that I hit protester Jared Phillips with a megaphone outside the Labour Party conference on Saturday. The TV3 and Scoop footage supplied by Solidarity Union shows from a distance the swing taken by me at Jared with a megaphone. TV 1 footage taken from the 'reverse angle' tells a fuller, truer story.
In this footage I am clearly under attack from Jared Phillips who is grabbing at the megaphone while I am attempting to speak through it. He pushes the megaphone back into my face and my head goes back. I then swing the megaphone which goes above Jared's head. A slow motion or frame-by-frame replay shows clear daylight between the megaphone and Jared's head. Jared's head remains stationary because there was no contact.
This does not excuse my action, but does show that I was not wrong in my initial reaction when I said that I was not aware of hitting anyone.