An Auckland airport security worker says she felt intimidated and was questioned about her nationality by anti-vaccination activist and former TVNZ host Liz Gunn on the day she was allegedly assaulted.

Gunn, 64, is defending allegations of assault, resisting police and wilful trespass stemming from an incident at Auckland Airport in February last year in a judge-alone trial at the Manukau District Court today.

The charges followed a fracas at the international arrivals terminal where Gunn attempted to film an interview without the permission of airport officials.

Also on trial is her cameraman, Jonathan Clark, 50, who is charged with wilfully trespassing and resisting arrest but not assault.

Ahead of her trial before Judge Janey Forrest on Tuesday morning, Gunn told the Herald she intended to give evidence in her defence.

Supporters have packed into the courtroom’s public gallery and were repeatedly cautioned by Judge Forrest for making noise during the hearing, including laughing during the evidence of a police witness.

Gunn and Clark are represented by Wellington barrister Matthew Hague, who succeeded with a late application ahead of the trial to call a former police constable as a witness as part of the defence case.

Police prosecutor Jerome Beveridge had opposed the application, saying the man had not been a police officer since 1996 and had no special operational knowledge about policies regarding the use of force.

Beveridge called his first witness on Tuesday morning, Auckland Airport security co-ordinator Anna Kolodeznaya.

Kolodeznaya said she approached Gunn and Clark, whom she said appeared to be a reporter and a cameraman using professional equipment.

She told them they needed permission from the airport to film using professional equipment in the terminal.

Gunn replied that they were volunteers filming friends and were not making money, Kolodeznaya said.

She said Gunn then began questioning her about airport policies and the law.

“I felt very intimidated at this time because of their body language ... towards me,” Kolodeznaya said.

Liz Gunn arrives at the Manukau District Court ahead of her trial on Tuesday. Photo / Michael Craig 

Gunn then grabbed Kolodeznaya’s arm with a force the witness described as a five-out-of-10, sparking an incredulous reaction from Gunn supporters in the public gallery.

“I had an injury on my upper arm. That’s why I felt sharp pain,” Kolodeznaya said.

The interaction was filmed by both airport CCTV and Clark, with both sets of footage played to the court.

Gunn had been attempting to chronicle the arrival into New Zealand of a family kept in lockdown in Tokelau after refusing the Covid-19 vaccine.

Kolodeznaya asked if she had permission to film, and Gunn replied saying she was just like other people in the terminal filming on their phones.

“We are volunteers. We do it for love,” Gunn said.

Gunn then questioned the woman about her nationality.

“Where are you from originally?” she asked

“It doesn’t matter,” Kolodeznaya replied.

“Well, it matters to me. Because the way it started in Germany was with little freedoms being taken,” Gunn said.

During his cross examination, Hague repeatedly honed in on the fact that while the airport filming regulations prohibit filming for commercial purposes without permission, they say nothing about whether the use of professional equipment means a crew requires permission.

Before their appearance in court, Gunn and Clark had arrived at the South Auckland court today to be greeted by supporters including representatives from the Tokelau family.

Gunn appealed for prayers and visualisations for New Zealand’s future to “come back home to God”.

Liz Gunn and Mike Hosking hosted Breakfast together in 2001 before Gunn quit live on-air. 

If convicted, Gunn faces a maximum possible sentence of six months’ imprisonment while Clark faces up to three months.

At an earlier court appearance, Gunn said she shouldn’t be treated like a paid journalist - instead like someone there to greet friends only with “a slightly bigger camera”.

She also suggested that she had not properly been verbally trespassed by airport staff before the arrival of police.

At a pre-trial hearing in January, she said she still suffers pain and PTSD from the confrontation almost a year on.

“I often wake between 3 and 5 in the morning - often in agony,” she said.

Liz Gunn is greeted by supporters ahead of today's court appearance. Photo / Michael Craig 

“I’ve paid a huge price. I can’t swim, I can’t play tennis, I can’t sleep well and there’s a trauma to it.”

Gunn began presenting the Sunday programme for TVNZ in the early 1990s following a career as a litigation lawyer. She joined Breakfast when it started in 1997 and four years later took over as co-host of the show alongside Mike Hosking, later prompting headlines when she quit live on air. She also hosted a number of shows for Radio New Zealand before leaving in 2016.

More recently, she has garnered a following on social media for her stance against Covid vaccines.

She appeared at the High Court at Auckland in 2022, a prominent supporter of the parents in the high-profile case of Baby W. The parents had sought a court injunction to stop their child from receiving a blood transfusion from anyone who had received the Covid vaccine during a life-saving surgery at Starship Hospital.

This article was originally published on the NZ Herald here.