14 DAY TRIAL // Actress Lucy Lawless is now making headlines, courtesy of her being ordered by Judge Allan Roberts, currently working with the New Plymouth District Court, to both do some community work, and pay a several hundred dollars fine.
Apparently, it was back in February 2012 when actress Lucy Lawless, together with several Greenpeace members, decided to climb aboard a drilling ship which at that time found itself in the waters of Port Taranaki, New Plymouth.
This might not have turned out to be such a big issue if it were not for the fact that neither Lucy Lawless, nor the Greenpeace members who were accompanying her, had ever been invited aboard said ship.
More so given the fact that their goal was that of keeping the Noble Discovered, as this drilling ship is named, from setting sail, something that they actually managed to do for a total of 70 hours by camping aboard the ship and refusing to leave.
Thus, their actions were pretty much illegal and eventually led to their being sentenced to 120 hours of community work and a $651.44 (€480.764) fine each, despite the fact that their intentions, i.e. protesting Shell's oil exploration plans, were noble, to say the least.
According to TVNZ, Lucy Lawless is quite proud of her past actions, and would not hesitate to do it all again.
“Since we occupied the Noble Discoverer, it has become evident to everyone watching, from the millions who have signed Greenpeace petitions, to the US Government, now examining Shell's plans, that it can never be safe to drill in the Arctic,” the actress allegedly told members of the press.
“Shell's Arctic programme has cost them billions and it's now regarded as an eye-wateringly expensive failure,” she went on to add.
The same source informs us that the initial charge that Lucy Lawless was faced with was one of burglary.
Later on, it was agreed upon to downgrade said charge to nothing more and nothing less than illegal boarding.
Luckily for the actress and for the Greenpeace members who also took part in this protest, they managed to dodge having to pay $600,000 (€442,801) in reparation to Shell Todd Oil, the joint venture between Shell and Todd Energy responsible for contracting the ship.