Neo-Nazi leader Thomas Sewell has most charges dropped, faces trial

Thomas Sewell was originally facing 25 charges, including violent disorder and affray, over an incident at Camp Sovereignty, a First Nations protest site in Melbourne's Kings Domain, on August 31. Prosecutors alleged he led a group of far-right extremists to attack occupants of the camp, and the Supreme Court last year heard he is alleged to have kicked and punched a person during a melee in which seven victims were identified. Three people were injured in the alleged attack, with one woman requiring staples in her scalp to close a wound.

Prosecutors discontinued all but five charges against Sewell on Thursday, with no reasons given for the withdrawal. He still faces two main charges of violent disorder and affray, to which he pleaded not guilty on Thursday. The remaining charges relate to an unlawful assault and allegations he breached his bail conditions.

Sewell's case will now go to trial at the County Court of Victoria later this year because the main charges cannot be heard in the lower court. Three of Sewell's co-accused—Zack Steven Dewaard, Billy Conheady, and Haymish Busscher—have pleaded not guilty to charges including violent disorder and affray and will face trial in the Victorian County Court. Four other co-accused—Jake Crockett, Michael Nelson, Yan Zakharin, and Michael Saarinen—will fight the allegations at a magistrates' court committal hearing in May.

Jaeden Johnson pleaded guilty to charges of violent disorder, assault by kicking, and committing an indictable offence while on bail and will face a plea hearing in the County Court in August. Sewell was granted bail in the Supreme Court of Victoria in November, with conditions including living in a sharehouse with his children and fiancée, who put up a $20,000 surety and promised to alert authorities if he breached bail. He has also been banned from attending the Melbourne CBD.