More than two years after Senator Lidia Thorpe was bashed outside the MCG, details of the attack can be revealed after a suppression order banning reporting on the case ended.
The Victorian senator kept the case under a shroud of secrecy for more than a year after bringing an interim suppression order banning all reporting in February 2025, which was extended until finalisation of the matter.
Images showing Senator Thorpe on the ground after the beating, with her attacker lying next to her, have been made public for the first time.
However, a magistrate banned media from accessing full CCTV video of the incident as the suppression order was lifted on Friday afternoon.
"I'm not minded to release the rolling footage. There are matters sensitive to the complainant," Magistrate Jillian Prior said.
Ebony Bell was on Friday handed a 12-month community corrections order, $300 fine and conviction for the May 2024 attack on Senator Thorpe, and another incident in August 2025.
The 29-year-old pleaded guilty in 2025 to recklessly causing injury to Senator Thorpe and the unlawful assault of two of the senator's friends.
She committed further offending while on bail.
Bell and the senator had a verbal altercation outside the MCG about 10pm, after the annual Dreamtime at the 'G match.
Senator Thorpe and her friends walked away, but Bell pursued the group, with CCTV capturing the ordeal.
Bell was seen punching Senator Thorpe twice to the head and then jaw, punching the senator's male friend in the face and pulling a woman's hair as she tried to restrain the accused on the ground.
Photos of Senator Thorpe's injuries, including a bruised lip and neck, were handed to the court, as were victim impact statements.
Senator Thorpe said the assault left her suffering deep and "long-lasting" impacts, and her trauma had been frustrated and compounded by a lack of understanding why it occurred.
Bell's barrister Carmendy Cooper alleged Senator Thorpe had made distressing comments about Bell's mother, which upset her client, before the offending started.
"It was a bad choice but she made that choice because her mother, who she adores, had been disrespected," Ms Cooper told the court in September 2025.
Prosecutor Bianca Moleta said each of the victims "experienced acts of gratuitous violence" and asked for Bell to be given a community order with conviction, arguing she was the aggressor.
Bell was initially given a deferred sentence in 2025 and ordered to participate in an anger management program.
However, once the case returned to court this year, the court was informed Bell had reoffended while on bail.
CCTV of the August 2025 incident, at The Whalers Hotel in Warrnambool, played to court in June showed Bell hitting a bouncer in the head, dragging him to the ground and kicking him after she was refused entry.
Ms Moleta said Bell must be jailed in combination with a community order as the incident was yet another "gratuitous act of violence".
But Ms Cooper urged the magistrate not to jail Bell as she had good rehabilitation prospects and the bouncer attack was a reaction to her refusal to enter the pub, which she believed was motivated by racism.
Bell returned to court on Friday for her sentence, where she was handed a community corrections order with a condition to undergo treatment for alcohol addiction and anger management.
Outside court on Friday, Senator Thorpe said she was thankful the matter had been finalised, adding public speculation and "imputations that did not reflect the facts" had made it a difficult experience.
"I want to put on record that throughout this process, I have consistently advocated against a prison sentence for the person involved," she said in a statement.
"I also want to reiterate that I had never met this person before the incident. I had no idea who they were."
Asked if she would apologise to Senator Thorpe, Bell said "no" and "it is what it is" as she left Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday.
