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Craig McLachlan case drags on

2019 court dates conclude but the case will resume in 2020.

The case surrounding Craig McLachlan has finished its 2019 court dates but will reconvene next March.

An outcome is not expected until May.

This does not include the defamation case the former Doctor Blake Mysteries star had in motion before police laid charges of indecent assault and common assault emanating from a 2014 stage production of The Rocky Horror Show.

McLachlan, who has attended court with partner conductor Vanessa Scammell, has denied all allegations. Four women involved in the case cannot be named for legal reasons. Early court sessions were also blocked to media attending.

The allegations variously surround claims McLachlan was intimate and inappropriate with actors during the run of the musical, including an unscripted kiss, pushing his groin into one, groping, tracing a finger around a genital area and straddling a woman’s lap -some was allegedly onstage sight unseen by audience members, and others allegedly offstage or during production.

But some witnesses also noted the bawdy nature of the production, McLachlan’s freedom to improvise, and general pranking by the cast as a whole, during its run.

Brendan Irving, who worked on the production, told the court one of the women originally said she wouldn’t do anything because she didn’t think it was that serious.

Written submissions from both sides are now due by the end of January with the case to resume on March 11 and 12.

McLachlan is also taking defamation action in NSW against the ABC, a former co-star and former Fairfax newspapers, now owned by Nine.

Source: The Age, AAP