Three women who allege Craig McLachlan harassed them on the set of the hit ABC TV show The Doctor Blake Mysteries cannot give evidence at the actor's upcoming defamation trial, a court has ruled.
The 53-year-old, also known for roles in Home and Away and Neighbours, is suing actor Christie Whelan Browne, Fairfax Media, and the ABC for defamation in the New South Wales Supreme Court over claims that he indecently assaulted and sexually harassed cast members during a 2014 run of The Rocky Horror Show musical.
Whelan Browne and the two media organisations had sought to amend their defence by adding four new witnesses to the case: the three women from The Doctor Blake Mysteries and actor Teagan Wouters, who has allegations relating to McLachlan's behaviour in the Rocky Horror production.
But in a small win for McLachlan, Justice Lucy McCallum ruled that only Wouters can be added to the defence.
McCallum also nixed part of the truth defence filed by Whelan Browne and the media organisations, saying it was not precise enough.
The part of the defence she struck out included pleadings that McLachlan was "calculated, manipulative and a sexual predator" and that he "took advantage of situations in which women were vulnerable to prey on them sexually".
The court also heard on Monday morning that McLachlan does not intend to take the witness stand to give evidence at trial.
McCallum also allowed each side of the case to ask the other (a pre-trial process known as "interrogatories") about therapy sessions Whelan Browne and McLachlan may have engaged in.
Last week, the court heard that McLachlan was seeking access to the name and address of Whelan Browne's therapist in a bid to access notes from the sessions. Now, the defendants are seeking information about whether McLachlan saw a therapist.
"He may have said something to this therapist. He may have made omissions," said barrister Lyndelle Barnett, acting for the defendants.
McLachlan's barrister Matthew Richardson said there was no evidence McLachlan was in therapy, and if he was, the defendants "don't have a clue about what he was discussing in therapy".
"If the plaintiff has never seen a therapist, the answer to the interrogatory will be ‘no’ and that’s the end of it," Barnett said.
McLachlan is seeking $6.5 million in special damages in the lawsuit, the court heard last week.
It has been set down for trial in February 2019.