Nick McBride: Three new charges laid against independent MP accused of assaulting wife six times

Abe Maddison
AAP
Nick McBride is now facing six charges of aggravated assault on his wife. (Kelly Barnes/AAP PHOTOS)
Nick McBride is now facing six charges of aggravated assault on his wife. (Kelly Barnes/AAP PHOTOS) Credit: AAP

Police have laid three new charges against an independent MP who now stands accused of assaulting his wife on six occasions.

South Australian MP Nick McBride was originally charged with three aggravated counts of assaulting his wife, Katherine, on April 10 at Conmurra, on the Limestone Coast.

Court records show that when those charges were heard in Naracoorte Magistrates Court on Wednesday, another three charges of aggravated assault were laid against Mr McBride, 55,

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The new charges related to alleged incidents on January 7 and September 16, 2024 and on January 2 this year, also at Conmurra.

All six charges were adjourned until December 3 for a pre-trial conference in the same court.

On Thursday, Mr McBride’s electorate office said he had no comment on the matter.

He was elected to the safe Liberal seat of MacKillip in the state’s South-East in 2018, but quit the party in 2023 and has since sat on the crossbench.

He appeared in court for the first time in May and is yet to enter any pleas, but has denied the allegations.

Mr McBride has previously said that he intends to run for his seat again at the state election next March.

He told the ABC on June 12 he understood the court proceedings would extend into June or July next year and he planned to stand for re-election.

“I think it’s going to be a really tough ask, but I went into politics with the idea of at least two or three terms,” he said.

“I’m going to stick to my resolve … that I initially had and I’m not going to let these personal issues detract from that resolve.”

Mr McBride is also a grazier and his family has owned Conmurra Station since the 1930s.

His great-grandfather was Sir Philip McBride, a founding member of the Liberal Party and defence minister in the Menzies Government.

On Tuesday, former Mt Gambier MP Troy Bell was sent to jail for at least two-and-a-half years for stealing $435,000 of public money that was meant to be spent on disadvantaged school students.

In September 2024, a District Court jury found him guilty of 20 counts of theft and five aggravated counts of dishonest dealings for crimes committed between 2009 and 2013.

Bell, 52, is yet to face a further 52 deception charges over the alleged misuse of the country members’ accommodation allowance.

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