Hannah Thomas: NSW admits to police ‘battery and false imprisonment’ of pro-Palestine protester

Hannah Thomas continues to suffer serious and ongoing health issues after being punched by a NSW police officer in June 2025. Photograph: Remi Chauvin/The Guardian View image in fullscreen Hannah Thomas continues to suffer serious and ongoing health issues after being punched by a NSW police officer in June 2025. Photograph: Remi Chauvin/The Guardian NSW admits to police ‘battery and false imprisonment’ of pro-Palestine protester Hannah Thomas State admits former Greens candidate entitled to damages and agrees to pay medical costs, but denies malicious prosecution and malfeasance in public office Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The state of New South Wales has admitted that a police officer punched Hannah Thomas in the eye while holding a torch at a pro-Palestine protest – and it’s offered to pay her medical costs. Court documents seen by Guardian Australia reveal that the state has admitted to false imprisonment and battery in its defence to a civil action launched by the former Greens candidate in October. NSW has denied claims of malicious prosecution and malfeasance in public office. Thomas was arrested and charged alongside four others at a pro-Palestine protest in Sydney in late June 2025 that was attended by about 60 people at SEC Plating. ‘Osprey cam’ streams life of nesting seabirds perched at tip of 55 metre-long Queensland rainforest canopy crane Read more Three months later, the office of the director of public prosecutions (DPP) dropped all charges against Thomas and three other protesters. The now 36-year-old was taken to hospital after she was punched and underwent three rounds of surgery on her right eye. The statement of claim reveals she weighed 45kg and was 156cm tall at the time of the battery. In her claim, filed in the NSW supreme court in October, Thomas’s lawyers wrote: “Senior Constable [Christopher] Davis punched the plaintiff’s right eye with his right hand … causing the plaintiff to scream, as well as causing immediate bleeding and swelling in and from the plaintiff’s right eye. “At the time of the punch, Senior Constable Davis was holding a torch in his right hand.” The state has admitted this conduct of Davis “as pleaded” and that the use of force “constituted a battery”. It also admitted in its statement of defence, filed with the court in April, to harm and general damages as a result of the punch. Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email Thomas’s lawyers from O’Brien Criminal and Civil Solicitors wrote that it ruptured her eyeball and fractured her eye socket. “The state has offered to pay the plaintiff’s reasonable expenses connected with the injuries admitted by this pleading,” NSW said in its defence. Thomas’s lawyers claimed she was also entitled to aggravated and exemplary damages, alleging Davis’s conduct was “manifestly excessive” and constituted a “grave departure” from police powers. However, the state denied those cl