Due to the current magistrate’s COVID-19 status, the court case involving a former Miss Australia who is accused of emotionally abusing her ex-husband has been postponed.
48-year-old Kathryn Isobel Hay had previously entered a not guilty plea to harassing or abusing Troy Shane Richardson emotionally between January 2014 and November 2022.
The anticipated three-day trial was postponed today after it started yesterday in northern Tasmania’s Launceston Magistrates Court.
Magistrate Simon Brown, who was coughing a lot on the first day of proceedings, was informed by the court that he had coronavirus.
On July 17, the hearing was scheduled to recommence for a total of three days. Hay was named Miss Tasmania and Miss Australia in 1999 and was a Labor MP in the Tasmanian parliament from 2002 to 2006.
Richardson, whose cross-examination is still ongoing, testified in court that Hay had hit and slapped him multiple times and had verbally abused him both in person and over text messages.
He said that in addition to being called names, blacked out, and threatened every week, Hay also had him assaulted with a shoe while he was driving and ordered him to lift the family violence order against her.
He refuted claims made by Hay’s attorney that he was in charge of her Facebook account, had written messages to himself, and had made the entire thing up.
Richardson said in court that Hay had wrongly accused him of following her and having an affair.
He claimed that the claims and alleged mistreatment had left him feeling hopeless and despondent.
“She would often make a point of having an argument in public just to make me feel low,” he stated.
“It would make me want to curl up into a little ball.”
Richardson concurred with Hay’s attorney’s claim that their divorce was contentious.
Along with Hay, two counselors and a police officer are slated to testify.
