Transgender activist who hit feminist mocks £150 punishment
A MILITANT transgender activist boasted of ‘ victory’ yesterday – minutes after being convicted of attacking an ideological rival.
Tara Wolf, 25, said she was ‘laughing out loud’ after escaping a compensation payment to 61-year- old radical feminist Maria MacLachlan.
The foul-mouthed campaigner gloated that she was only going to pay a ‘fiver a week’ towards £430 in fines and court costs.
On her Facebook account she wrote: ‘Victory!!! Got a £150 fine, no compensation to Maria!!! Fiver a week lol.’
Wolf, a bicycle courier of no fixed address, was convicted of punching Miss MacLachlan during an ugly confrontation at Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park, central London.
Hendon Magistrates’ Court heard that she objected to the prolific blogger’s views on transgender issues.
Miss MacLachlan was attending a rally by trans-exclusionary radical feminists, or Terfs, who argue that you can only be a woman if you are born one.
Wolf, who self-identifies as a woman, branded the meeting a ‘ hate rally’ and admitted getting caught up in a scuffle. She said she was defending her girlfriend.
But after a two-day trial, a judge convicted her of assault.’
Earlier the court was told that the fight broke out when Miss MacLachlan began filming the transgender activists’ counter demonstration.
Wolf punched Miss MacLachlan before others kicked her while she was on the ground as her camera was snatched and memory card taken.
District Judge Kenneth Grant said there was no need to rehearse the politics of the ‘transgender debate’ during the trial. But he said it was clear the two women had ‘strongly held, passionately expressed, opposing stand points’.
The judge said that Wolf in particular talked of the opposing group in ‘strong language’ and of them wanting to ‘exterminate people like me’.
Referring to a video of Wolf attempting to slap a camera from Miss MacLachlan’s hand, the judge said: ‘That, I concluded, was an assault.
‘It was a relatively minor assault. I suspect if that was the only altercation that was recorded during that event, it would not have resulted in this trial.’
Punched: Maria MacLachlan While giving his verdict, the judge criticised Miss MacLachlan for failing to refer to Wolf as ‘she’ during the hearing. He said: ‘When I asked Miss MacLachlan to refer to the defendant as she, she did so with bad grace.
‘Having been asked her to refer to Miss Wolf as she as a matter of courtesy, she continued to refer to Miss Wolf as he and him. The language of the debate is antagonistic and hostile.’
Wolf, who the court heard receives £320 per month jobseeker’s allowance, was told to pay a £150 fine, £30 victim surcharge and £250 prosecution costs. She was convicted of a single count of assault by beating.
Wolf was charged after the Metropolitan Police issued images from the rally but declined to identify the gender of any of those caught on camera.
After the hearing, Miss MacLachlan said: ‘I was surprised that he didn’t plead guilty, given the weight of the evidence beforehand. I expected he would be advised to plead guilty in order to lessen his sentence – but he didn’t really get much of a sentence. He’s a violent, misogynist thug.’
Referring to her use of ‘he’ to talk about Wolf, Miss MacLachlan added: ‘I find it virtually impossible to do, that’s why they kept having to remind me.
‘It was particularly offensive because he’s a violent male.’