|
Oscar-winning Australian actor Nicole Kidman won a
restraining order against two photographers on Thursday after a listening
device was found outside her Sydney home and after a reported high speed
car chase.
Waverley Local Court ordered Jamie Fawcett, 43, and Ben McDonald, 32,
not to approach Kidman at her home or go within 60 feet of her harborside
home at Darling Point.
The two Sydney freelance
photographers have been staking out the house since she arrived back on
Sunday to begin filming a new movie, "Eucalyptus."
A listening device was left across the road from the house on Sunday in
what police are investigating as a possible bugging attempt. Security
footage shot from the home showed a man planting the listening device.
Police have said a number of paparazzi media were around at the
time.
Australia's Daily Telegraph newspaper reported on Thursday that Kidman
sought the court order after two photographers pursued her at high speed
on Sunday, running red lights, swerving across median strips and driving
on the wrong side of the road.
"This continued for the entire journey, (and Kidman) believed she and
her driver were going to be involved in a serious motor vehicle accident,"
said a temporary restraining order issued before Thursday's court order.
"Kidman has canceled arrangements for her children to stay at her home
given her fears for their safety whilst traveling in a vehicle at this
time," the temporary order read according to the newspaper, which said
Kidman also canceled a family party.
Lawyers for the photographers say they deny involvement in either
incident.
The restraining orders will remain in force until at least Feb. 11 when
the case returns to court, media said.
Neither the photographers nor Kidman appeared in court.
It is not the first time Kidman has been at the center of a paparazzi media incident.
In 1999, a freelance journalist was convicted in the United States of
illegally taping an intercepted telephone call from Kidman to her
then-husband, actor Tom Cruise, and selling the tape to a tabloid
newspaper.
The tabloid said a woman's voice on the tape could be heard telling a
man that their marriage was "hanging by a thread." Kidman and Cruise's 10-year
mariage ended in 2001.
(yahoo) | 
Updated: 2005-01-28 15:47
