Nicole Kidman won court battle against pap who accused Taylor Swift’s dad

Hollywood actress Nicole Kidman was awarded a restraining order against a paparazzi photographer who has accused Taylor Swift’s dad of assault.

Freelance photographer Ben McDonald and his colleague Jamie Fawcett were both ordered to stay at least 60 feet away from the Moulin Rouge actress and her home in 2005, after a listening device from the pair was found on her Sydney property. Last week, McDonald has now accused singer Taylor Swift’s father of assaulting him in Sydney’s North Shore last Tuesday (February 20).

McDonald, who lost his previous court battle with Nicola Kidman as she claimed the listening device made her fear for her safety and feel like a prisoner in her house, has claimed he didn’t provoke the attack that he alleges Taylor’s 51-year-old father did.

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Speaking to the Daily Mail, McDonald claimed that Scott Swift “charged” at him last week as he and his daughter left a party on a ferry wharf around 2:30 a.m.. The incident reportedly also saw Scott hit the left side of McDonald’s face. Speaking to the outlet, he said: “He probably decided he needed to defend his daughter, for some reason.

In 23 years I have never seen anything like it. She got off the boat, she walked towards security guards who were shoving umbrellas in our faces.” McDonald continued in his report to the outlet as he claimed he didn’t antagonise or provoke the attack from Scott.

The incident happened as Taylor and her father left the party and got into waiting vehicles supported by two members of her security staff. Pictures from other paparazzi at the time show Taylor and Scott clutching onto each other as they leave with Taylor also holding a black umbrella.

Officials added that the alleged victim in the situation did not require any medical attention but McDonald claimed that he had “very sore chops” on the left side of his face. Part of the incident was captured on camera, but it is difficult to make out exactly what happened due to the angle and flashing lights. The only moment clearly captured on video was of a group of people walking towards the yachts at night with one person – allegedly Taylor – seen hiding underneath a black umbrella until they approached the group of paparazzi and a scuffle began resulting in blurry footage.

The investigation into the assault by New South Wales Police is still ongoing, but spokespersons for Swift have told PageSix: “Two individuals were aggressively pushing their way towards Taylor, grabbing at her security personnel, and threatening to throw a female staff member into the water.”

McDonald, who is a chief executive of Matrix Media Group, told DailyMail that the claims that he physically threatened a female staff member was “utter rubbish” and claimed the only woman involved in the incident was the pop singer. He told the outlet: “This is the sort of bulls**t I might expect. Which female was that? The only one there was Taylor.”

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