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AAP
AAP
National
Miklos Bolza

Jail time quashed for Harbour Bridge climate protester

Climate protester Deanna CoCo has had her jail sentence for blocking traffic quashed on appeal. (Bianca De Marchi/AAP PHOTOS) (AAP)

A 15-month jail sentence imposed on a climate protester who blocked one lane on the Sydney Harbour Bridge with a truck has been quashed.

Deanna Maree CoCo, 32, was issued with a 12-month conditional release order on Wednesday after District Court Judge Mark Williams heard she had been initially imprisoned on false information provided by the NSW Police.

CoCo and three others drove a Hino truck onto the Harbour Bridge in morning peak hour on April 13, 2022, as part of an environmental protest against climate inaction for Fireproof Australia.

Climbing onto the roof of the vehicle alongside Alan Russell Glover, the pair lit orange flares and livestreamed the protest.

Two others, Karen Fitzgibbon and Jay Larbalestier, sat on the ground in front of the truck and superglued their hands to the roadway.

On Wednesday, Judge Williams heard an appeal by CoCo of the 15-month jail sentence imposed in the Local Court last December.

He noted police had included a "false fact" and a "false assertion" in their case against CoCo that an ambulance with flashing sirens and lights had been impeded from crossing the bridge to an emergency because of the protest.

With the jail term quashed, CoCo remains convicted for two charges of resisting police and using an unauthorised explosive.

At the same time, Judge Williams heard an appeal by Glover, now 61, of an 18-month community correction order.

The judge quashed convictions for Glover and imposed a 12-month conditional release order, hearing that this was his first criminal offence and the charges had resulted in him being stood down from working as a volunteer firefighter.

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