Victorian Liberal MP Moira Deeming has accused her party of “pack bullying”, telling supporters she is “amazed” Liberal leader Jess Wilson supported Matthew Guy following her assault accusation.
It emerged last week that Ms Deeming had filed a police report claiming she had been assaulted by the shadow transport minister at a gala dinner on May 23.
Ms Deeming had accused her colleague of “grabbing me violently in some kind of head lock”.
However, Victoria Police released a statement on Thursday saying they had investigated the matter and there was “no offence detected”.
The incident has led to uncertainty about Ms Deeming’s future in the Victorian Liberal Party, with Opposition Leader Jess Wilson reiterating on Monday that she expected Ms Deeming to apologise to Mr Guy.
But Ms Deeming has indicated she has no intention of offering an apology.
In messages to supporters reported by the Herald Sun, the upper house MP expressed shock that Ms Wilson expected her to apologise.
“I am so amazed Jess went out and supported him,” Ms Deeming said in a message sent to supporters.
The CCTV footage shows Mr Guy seated at a table with Ms Deeming and her staffer while the majority of the attendees are on the dance floor.
At one point, Mr Guy can be seen leaning towards Ms Deeming, who is also leaning in.
The former opposition leader then appears to put his hand on the back of her shoulder to bring her closer.
In the message to supporters, Ms Deeming said she had no reason to believe Mr Guy’s intentions were benign.
“Why would I assume he meant nothing by it?” she asked.
“He is one of my documented tormentors and the preselection debacle just gone shows there is likely ongoing deranged hatred of me in there willing to do deranged things.”
The MP then accused her party of “pack bullying”.
“This is round two of public pack bullying and they obviously want me to quit and are making it known through the media that if I don’t they will make my life a living hell,” she added.
The comments come as the MP released a statement through her lawyer.
The statement expresses regret that the matter became public but nonetheless reiterates her claim there was unwanted contact, explaining this had been exacerbated by past trauma.
“Without attributing motive to the other party, our client maintains that from her perspective this physical contact by a senior male colleague in the workplace was unexpected, unwelcome, physically painful and caused her to feel fear and confusion,” the statement read.
“This incident was exacerbated by our client’s prior history of being a victim of rape and sexual abuse, and having PTSD both from that and from what has occurred over the last more than three years.”
“She considers it deeply regrettable that this matter was not able to remain within the Party’s confidential processes and that it has instead become the subject of public commentary, causing unnecessary distress to all those involved.”
The statement said Ms Deeming had accepted an offer to meet with senior Liberals to “continue working towards an internal resolution”.
Speaking at a press conference on Friday morning, Mr Guy said his reputation and family name had been unfairly dragged through the mud.
“Moira Deeming owes me a public apology, I’m owed an apology from the Premier (Jacinta Allan) and the Attorney General (Sonya Kilkenny),” Mr Guy said outside Parliament on Friday.
He said the CCTV footage of the event showed there was “no ambiguity” about the alleged offence.