Lucy Lawless ‏@RealLucyLawless “Okay, that was superb! Charge of Burglary officially dropped. More appropriate charge of Unlawfully on a Ship. Sept 14 sentencing.”

Lawless on protest: ‘I had to do it’

By Matthew Theunissen

UPDATED11:41 AM Thursday Jun 14, 2012 

Lucy Lawless during the protest at the Port of Taranaki. Photo / Greenpeace

Lucy Lawless says she felt compelled to participate in a Greenpeace anti-drilling protest, which ended in her pleading guilty this morning to being unlawfully on a ship.

Lawless, Jan Raoni Hammer, Mike Ross Buchanan, Shayne Panayiotis Comino, Vivienne Rachel Hadlow, Shai Sebastian Naides, Zach Steven Penman and Ilai Amir were initially charged with entering an enclosed area at Port Taranaki without authority and with the intent to commit a crime.

The charges came after the group boarded the drill ship Noble Discoverer at the port in February and spent 77 hours up a 58m tower.

The charge was amended when they appeared before the Auckland District Court this morning.

The eight appeared in the dock together and stood quietly as their lawyer Ron Mansfield entered the pleas on their behalf.

He asked that no conviction be formally entered yet to allow the possibility of a discharge without conviction.

They were bailed to reappear in New Plymouth District Court on September 14.

Speaking outside court, Lawless was adamant the protest had an impact, saying 470,000 supported the action.

“Yeah, I think we’ve helped kick off a great movement.”

She was unsure whether the court action would affect her ability to travel for her career.

“I don’t believe so but we’ll see how that plays out. Certainly I stand by what we did and our need to do it. Peaceful action’s the only way forward.”

She had no plans to repeat her actions; “but I had to do what I had to do”.

She said her association with Greenpeace would continue but she was not sure what form it would take.

“We want to tell (those responsible for deep sea oil drilling) absolutely under no circumstances is this a good idea. They are robbing our children of their birth right to a clean and healthy planet and they know it.”

Greenpeace said the group boarded the Shell-contracted ship to prevent it heading to the Chukchi Sea, off the coast of Alaska, to drill three exploratory oil wells.

- APNZ

XMV for more news and updates on all things Xena!

Actress turned eco-warrior Lucy Lawless (13:01)

Added: 12:58AM Sunday March 04, 2012

Source: Sunday

Actress Lucy Lawless talks to Sunday about whether she regrets scaling an oil ship in Taranaki.  

Full discussion on XMV

Oil protesters’ day in court deferred

Lucy Lawless and six other Greenpeace protesters have had their court appearance deferred almost three weeks.

The activists were to appear in the New Plymouth District Court today but yesterday police approved a request from the protesters’ Auckland solicitor to adjourn their appearance until March 20.

The seven were arrested on Monday after four days’ protest atop the 53m drilling rig on the Noble Discoverer, headed for an oil drilling campaign in the Arctic, in Port Taranaki.

Yesterday, Greenpeace climate campaigner Steve Abel, of Auckland, expressed concern at the serious nature of the burglary charges.

“It is a more-severe charge than expected … it would be more appropriate to charge them with unlawfully getting on a vessel or trespass,” he said.

Greenpeace lawyers would be representing the activists in court, Mr Abel said.

The first activist who came down from the rig on Saturday because of personal reasons was initially charged with trespass in that he unlawfully got on a vessel but he, too, had now been charged with burglary, Mr Abel said.

“The activists – including Lucy – took the action as a protest against Shell’s intention to drill for oil in the Arctic. They understood they faced police arrest and charges, so they didn’t take it lightly,” he said.

“Obviously, Lucy Lawless has a completely clean record so it’s an indication of how strongly she felt,” Mr Abel said.

Mr Abel declined to discuss the case any further because it was now before the courts and sub judice.

It is likely the Greenpeace lawyers will strongly argue against any conviction that could result in Lawless, the star of Xena Warrior Princess and Spartacus, being barred from entry to countries such as the United States.

The maximum sentence following conviction – which is unlikely to be handed down – is 10 years’ jail.

However, in the past similar protest actions had resulted in trespass convictions for activists who received penalties from fines through to community work.

Even a conviction without penalty brought consequences for the activists, he said.

Lawless, the mother of two school-age boys and an older daughter, is believed to be working in Queenstown later this week.

Mr Abel said the protest action had a resounding impact, with Shell receiving 190,000 letters, and the number continued to climb.

Taranaki Daily News stories of the protest online have attracted many comments critical of the Greenpeace action.

CHARGES

Lucy Lawless and six other Greenpeace activists are charged with burglary under the Crimes Act in that they entered an enclosed yard at Port Taranaki, without authority and with intent to commit a crime on February 24.

Maximum penalty: 10 years’ jail.

(Thank you Barbara Bruno and Daily News)

whenidontknowanymore:

People and their one-track minds… (a response to the stupid comments)

This Shell commercial was made 20 YEARS ago, at time when nobody thought of Global Warming, Lucy was young, she had a baby not many years prior and, just maybe, she wanted a career in acting?! This is what you do before you break through - you take pointless parts in stupid commercials!

AND AGAIN, it’s been 20 years! Even if she believed in oil back then, she’s had time to CHANGE HER MIND. You know, people do that as they grow older and wiser! Magic! And the protest being about money and attention? I do believe she’s got both already, so just lay off!

Stupid people are stupid (they dare complain but do nothing themselves).

Lucy is a true inspiration, she did what she believes in and she did a darn GOOD job! Awareness has grown stronger because of her and she might just have taken us a step closer to saving what we call home! To me, that’s the definition of a hero.

Kick em whenidontknowanymore!!!

I hereby back this!

“Anticipating imminent arrest so doing final cleanup of camp#savethearctic. Will be dissapointed if we have to leave but will go peacefully.”

‘We stand in solidarity with all who love the earth - let’s #SavetheArctic from @shell!”

“Seven of us came up the tower on @Shell’s drillship but 4 days later 130,000 will come down. In solidarity we can #savethearctic”

-Lucy Lawless Feb 26 2012