Craig McLachlan's tearful partner takes the stand
Craig McLachlan’s long-term partner has burst into tears in court as she recalled the moment he told her he was accused of sexual harassing his co-workers.
Vanessa Scammell, McLachlan’s partner since 2021, took the stand at the NSW Supreme Court as the second week of the defamation trial begins.
McLachlan is suing Christie Whelan Brown and media outlets ABC and Fairfax for defamation claims made in 2018 over reports of assault, indecent assault, harassment and exposing himself to female cast members of the The Rocky Horror Show during the 2014 production of the musical.
He has continued to deny the allegations as the media outlets defend their claims on the basis of truth.
Ms Scammell told the court that the cast of The Rocky Horror Show were affectionate with each other and would often greet each other with hugs and kisses.
She also said that Ms Whelan Brown would “flick the elastic” on McLachlan’s shorts while making “interesting remarks”.
“She would make references to what was underneath the boxer pants and would flick him with a towel,” Ms Scammell told the court, news.com.au reported.
Ms Scammell also revealed that Ms Whelan Brown would “flick Craig in the groin or backside” and saw her give him a “solid slap to the buttocks” backstage at a show in Melbourne.
McLachlan’s partner was asked about how the pair felt when the accusations came out from ABC and Fairfax noting that he was “devastated, humiliated and destroyed”.
“He was incapable of answering and I was worried about his mental state,” an upset Ms Scammell said.
“He was so damaged that I could barely get a constructive sentence out of him”.
The court heard that the couple only saw each other a week after the allegations broke.
They ran into each other’s arms and fell to the ground where they “didn’t speak for 40 minutes”.
McLachlan had earlier finished giving evidence for the fifth day of the trial where he told the court he sent videos of himself pretending to masturbate to Ms Whelan Brown.
The actors had most recently worked together on the Network Ten television series The Wrong Girl from 2016 to 2017 and would use crude, sexual nicknames such as “gobbler and blumpkin”.
Defence barrister Michael Hodge QC questioned McLachlan if the nicknames prompted him to send the videos.
McLachlan once again said in the video he was pretending to masturbate and wasn’t in the toilet.
He told the court that he would prank and make sexual jokes on the set of the musical like deep throating bananas, masturbating on crew members’ arms and using the nicknames.
Mr Hodge questioned whether he would peel the banana to make it appear as a phallus, to which McLachlan said: “Well the banana is already the appropriate shape, but yes.”
The trial continues.
Image: Nine News (2020)