A former Married At First Sight star is locked in a showdown with the Australian Federal Police over an early-morning raid on her home linked to her OnlyFans content, which she has slammed as an ‘abuse of power’.
Police searched the home of Stacey Lee Hampton, the former MAFS contestant and ex-partner of Rebels bikie boss Shane Smith, in September 2023, on the allegation she may not have declared income she received from work on OnlyFans.
The Federal Court in Adelaide heard on Tuesday Ms Hampton may not have declared her true income over an 18-month period and Services Australia held concerns she may have improperly received carer payments.
But Ms Hampton, appearing in court and representing herself during a civil judicial review application, said the search warrant was ‘invalid’ and an ‘abuse of power’ because it did not adequately specify the allegation of wrongdoing underpinning it.
‘It (the warrant) is too broad,’ she said.
‘There are too many types of incomes.’
She also objected to an interview with a Services Australia officer that took place during the search.
She told the court the interview would not have happened at her home without what she argued was an invalid warrant.
‘They had to exercise it through the channel of the search warrants,’ she said. ‘It wasn’t hand delivered at the door.
‘They were using the search warrant to conduct that interview.’
Justice Stephen McDonald said the case would hang on whether the ‘face of the warrants’ met the legal standard outlined by the High Court.
Paul d’Assumpcao, counsel for the AFP and Services Australia, argued the terms of the warrant were ‘well within the threshold of what is acceptable by the courts’.
He disputed Ms Hampton’s characterisation the stated allegation on the warrant was not sufficient and said the warrant provided more information that what was required by the Criminal Code.
He also argued the courts had recognised the need to provide investigative agencies like the AFP with ‘sufficient flexibility’ in how they investigated alleged criminal offences.
‘Balance has to be struck at some point,’ he said.
‘At what level do we cross the line and say that (the information provided on a warrant) is good enough?’
Justice McDonald said a warrant did not need to offer the particularity of an indictment and the complexity of the case arose in ‘how to draw the line’ in what was required on a warrant.
Ms Hampton has two sons, Kosta and Kruz, that she shared with Mr Smith.
Mr Smith died in a motorcycle crash in Adelaide in September 2022.
Ms Hampton has not been charged with any crimes and there is no accusation of any wrongdoing on her part.
Justice McDonald said he would ‘reserve his decision’ and deliver it at a later date.
Speaking with NewsWire earlier this year, Ms Hampton said she would pursue damages against the government if she won her case.
‘I haven’t been arrested and nothing has come from this,’ she said.
‘But to me, it’s the principle, the fact they came to my house for no reason, as an admitted lawyer, at 6am, with my two children who had lost their father, and traumatised us.’
‘What’s that done to my mental health, my children’s health, also my work, being able to work?’