Former Neighbours star Craig McLachlan cleared of stage indecency in Australia

Craig McLachlan has had a long career on stage and on television

Credit: Don Arnold /Wireimage

Craig McLachlan, the former Neighbours actor, has been found not guilty of 13 charges arising from alleged indecent assaults against four women.

Mr McLachlan, who has had a long career on stage and on television, had been accused of indecently assaulting his co-stars during a run of the musical "Rocky Horror Show" in Melbourne in 2014, in which the actor played the lead role of Frank-N-Furter.

The actor had faced seven charges of indecent assault and six of common assault related to seven alleged incidents in a trial that began last year. Mr McLachlan has always denied all the allegations against him.

The charges related to allegations Mr McLachlan touched a woman’s genitals while she was performing in a scene and he was hidden from the audience and that he forcefully pushed her face in another scene; that he put his tongue in the mouth of a second woman during an unscripted kiss and that he pushed his groin into her during a backstage hug; that he twice kissed a third woman backstage, and that he ran his hand up a fourth woman’s leg while she was performing and he was concealed from the audience.

Magistrate Belinda Wallington said it was likely Mr McLachlan touched the women while they were performing, but might have believed they were consenting due to his “egotistical, self-entitled sense of humour”.

She wanted it known the four complainants "were brave and honest witnesses". She rejected Mr McLachlan’s suggestions the women colluded against him.

Ms Wallington said she was not persuaded beyond a reasonable doubt he knew they were not consenting, which is an element of the particular charges he faced.

The magistrate held that the kisses and hug backstage and the face push on stage all happened, but she was not convinced they constituted an indecent assault or common assault.

Mr McLachlan, 55, sat with his partner, Vanessa Scammell, in a Sydney hotel as they watched a video link of Ms Wallington delivering her verdicts from the Melbourne Magistrates Court.

Several hours later, Mr McLachlan and Ms Scammell emerged from the hotel, where he told local media they would “have a lot to say” in the new year.

“We have maintained a dignified and respectful silence for the past almost three years and put our trust in the law."