Posie Parker protest: Young man accused of punching elderly woman granted diversion

British activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, aka Posie Parker, was drowned out by trans-rights supporters at Albert Park. Photo / Dean Purcell

A young Gisborne man accused of punching an elderly woman in the head during the heated Posie Parker counter-protest in Auckland has been granted diversion.

The 20-year-old first appeared in Auckland District Court on April 20 and was granted interim name suppression, which will remain in place until the legal proceedings have ended.

The man was due to appear in court yesterday, however, a registrar told the Herald he had been accepted on the police diversion scheme and the appearance was not required.

A further report of progress will be available by October 9, he said.

Diversion is a scheme operated by police that allows first-time offenders to take responsibility for the offence but avoid getting a criminal conviction. The scheme is designed to prevent re-offending and requires participants to study their own behaviour and the impact the offence had on the victim.

Footage circulating on social media following the March event showed a heated meeting of the two groups in Albert Park in central Auckland. A man was filmed striking a woman at least twice in the face.

Police confirmed in April an arrest for common assault had been made.

British anti-transgender rights activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, self-described as a women’s rights activist and also known as Posie Parker, aborted her two-event New Zealand tour after her planned speech in Albert Park was drowned out by counter-protesters.

Speak Up For Women spokeswoman Suzanne Levy said the court decision to grant diversion for the incident at the Let Women Speak event in Albert Park is part of a “dangerous cultural shift”.

“We extend our aroha to the victim and we will not stop our public opposition to radical gender ideology.”

Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, aka Posie Parker, is escorted from Albert Park in March. Photo / Dean Purcell

Outside the court following the first appearance in April, controversial restaurateur and former Auckland mayoral candidate Leo Molloy taunted the man saying: “You better get used to this - it’s the rest of your life.”

The businessman stopped after the defendant and an older relative passed a police officer.

Molloy later told the Herald that he had done his best to out the man prior to his arrest and he intended to continue attending his court hearings. Mob violence is reprehensible, he said.