THE drama that unfolded the day Tamworth City Council enforced a court order at Florence Amelia Vorhauer's home was shown to the Tamworth District Court jury yesterday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Former Prime TV cameraman Scott Baker and NBN cameraman Darren Stout took the witness stand respectively while the unedited footage they filmed on July 14, 1999, was played to the jury.
The cameramen provided the footage as evidence in Mrs Vorhauer's trial and were the first witnesses to be called upon by the Crown Prosecutor Lee Carr.
The footage showed council officer, including general manager Phil Lyon and compliance manager Ken Reid, with several police officers standing outside Mrs Vorhauer's Wilburtree St home.
The council was attempting to enforce a NSW Land and Environment Court order to remove hundreds of chickens from the yard.
The footage showed a tall wooden gate and several large sheets of corrugated iron secured horizontally across the front fence obscuring a view of Mrs Vorhauer's house.
The jury watched as police tried to remove sections of the iron while Mrs Vorhauer could be heard yelling from the yard above a chorus of crowing roosters.
At one point, two bottles filled with blue liquid, which the Crown alleges was kerosene, were thrown one after the other over the fence.
One of the bottles appeared to have an attachment which was smoking.
Mr Baker then filmed a shot through a hole in the iron, showing Mrs Vorhauer holding what appeared to be an iron bar.
A police negotiator is shown speaking to Mrs Vorhauer through the fence urging her to speak to the council's representatives and view the court order.
Mrs Vorhauer can be heard saying, "I know my rights and I'm going to stick to them".
The footage takes a dramatic turn, when amidst a shriek of chickens, riot police wearing helmets and carrying batons and shields remove a section of fence and storm into the yard.
A short time later, one of the police officers emerges from the yard cradling a bleeding arm.
In the NBN footage, a second policeman is also seen sitting in the gutter holding padding over a leg wound.
Mrs Vorhauer's daughter was then led in a distressed state to a waiting police vehicle followed by Mrs Vorhauer who looked towards the camera and said, "They pulled my hair and nearly broke my neck".
The prosecution is alleging Mrs Vorhauer wounded the police officers with a Stanley knife, which Crown Prosecutor Lee Carr told the jury in his opening address was hanging around her neck on a a piece of rope.
The Crown also called upon Mr Reid to take the witness stand yesterday.
This morning's proceedings will open with Mrs Vorhauer continuing her cross-examination of Mr Reid.
Mrs Vorhauer, 63, has pleaded not guilty to using an offensive weapon with the intent to prevent lawful apprehension and two counts of malicious wounding with the intent to prevent lawful apprehension.
The trial, which began on Monday, is estimated to run between one and three weeks.
