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A Victorian woman who assaulted Lidia Thorpe outside the MCG has been ordered to undertake anger management after pleading guilty to her role in the “public spectacle” from which the independent senator says she will never recover.
Footage of the incident, which occurred after an AFL match in 2024, shows Ebony Jan Bell, 29, strike Thorpe to the head before Bell and others fall to the ground, hair is pulled and bystanders attempt to intervene.
As the two groups separate, Thorpe who was dressed in a Richmond guernsey, can be seen shouting back and pointing at the Preston woman as they both walk away.
The case has been shrouded in secrecy for more than a year after Thorpe’s legal team obtained a suppression order preventing publication of details of the hearings. Reasons for the suppression order cannot be revealed for legal reasons.
Bell faced Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Friday after pleading guilty to the assault, which took place after the Dreamtime at the ’G clash between Essendon and Richmond about 10.30pm on May 25, 2024.
Thorpe watched the hearing via a video link with her camera off. In a statement released afterwards, she said the case had been a “difficult experience, made harder by public speculation and imputations”.
“I will not make a full recovery from my injuries; however, I want to move on from this,” Thorpe wrote.
“I had never met this person before the incident. I had no idea who they were.”
In the aftermath of the attack, Thorpe revealed she was unable to attend parliament in Canberra for some time, having been ordered by a doctor not to travel after sustaining nerve and spinal injuries in her neck. She said she needed spinal surgery and a plate to be inserted.
This, she said, left her with a scar on the front of her neck.
Bell was arrested and charged two months after the incident.
On Friday, magistrate Jill Prior said the unplanned attack was clearly in response to a trigger that arose on the night which caused Bell to “rise to anger” outside the stadium and attack Thorpe alongside another man and woman.
Prior said of particular concern was that the incident occurred on a night of recognition for First Nations culture, which the broader community was called on to respect.
“Violence in the community must be denounced. It not only has an impact on the victims directly, but an impact on the community as a whole,” Prior said.
“Memories are long, and moments in time have far-reaching consequences.”
Bell was also sentenced on Friday for further violence that occurred while she was on bail for the MCG assault.
The court heard that in August 2025, Bell assaulted a security guard at the Whalers Hotel in Warrnambool after being refused entry to the gaming area.
CCTV of that assault, which was also played to the court, showed Bell yelling at the security guard as she was refused entry. She walked out onto Timor Street where the man fell to the ground and was assaulted as members of the public stopped to intervene.
Prior said Bell appeared intoxicated and angry, and struck the security guard when she was walked out of the venue.
“I accept you perceived it was your Aboriginality that barred you entry,” the magistrate said.
“Needless to say the incident has affected [the victim] deeply.”
The 29-year-old has since pleaded guilty to offences including recklessly causing injury, unlawful assault, common law assault and refusing to leave licensed premises relating to both incidents.
The court heard Bell was a proud Yorta Yorta and Gunditjmara woman whose supportive family had advocated for culture for many years.
She herself was impacted by intergenerational trauma but was described by her workplace colleagues as being consistent, reliable and well respected.
The prosecution had called for a combined sentence of both a community corrections order and jail time, pointing to the public spectacle of the 2024 offending.
But Prior said to ignore Bell’s personal circumstances would be to sentence her as someone other than herself.
The magistrate ordered Bell to serve a 12-month community corrections order with conditions, including that Bell undertake anger management programs and treatment for alcohol and drug addictions.
She must also pay a $300 fine.
“You need to get some help around this. You must do those things,” Prior said.
Outside court, Bell said she knew “the truth” about what happened outside the MCG before acknowledging that she pleaded guilty. “It is what it is,” she said.
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