Newborn photoshoot ended in assault charges

5 days ago 12

An eastern suburbs photographer found not guilty of spraying a weeks-old baby with cleaning chemicals has failed in her bid to claim $99,000 in legal costs, branding the process “a complete waste of time”.

The family of Baby N, a court-appointed pseudonym, arrived at Natalia Mikhaylova’s Matraville studios in May 2021 for a newborn photoshoot, half an hour late because of traffic.

Photographer Natalia Mikhaylova was found not guilty of spraying a weeks-old baby with cleaning chemicals.

Several disputes ensued, culminating in the family being asked to leave.

“She [the baby’s mother] came in demanding extras. She wanted three adults’ entry, which was against the terms and conditions. She wanted me to wrap her baby. I didn’t, and she intimidated me the whole time. She placed her baby recklessly in the prop, face down, and I stopped her,” Mikhaylova told the Herald.

A mobile phone video, taken from inside the baby’s mother’s pocket, recorded Mikhaylova saying “I’m going to spray cleaning stuff on your baby so that you leave” and “I’m going to spray your baby. Can you leave now?”

The baby’s mother responds by yelling “You sprayed on my baby!” and “How can you spray cleaning solution on the baby?“, according to court documents seen by this masthead.

Mikhaylova claims the video was doctored and withheld from evidence by police.

The baby’s mother reported Mikhaylova to police. Mikhaylova told the officer during an interview that she did not threaten to spray the baby but asked the woman to leave so she could clean, as per COVID requirements at the time. She was charged with two counts of common assault three days after the incident.

Mikhaylova initially had a solicitor but later told the Local Court she was “unemployable” and had no money, and that she and her lawyers didn’t see eye to eye on what she branded the “tampered video”.

Mikhaylova failed in her attempt to recover $99,000 in legal costs.

During the three-day hearing, Mikhaylova said she was the victim of a “planned” attack by the baby’s mother and accused a police officer of tampering with evidence so she could lay multiple charges and further advance her career.

She was ultimately found not guilty in November 2023 because there was no evidence the cleaning spray landed on the baby’s skin or that of its mother.

Mikhaylova applied for costs in the Local Court – including her lost income and medical costs, neither of which are allowed under the legislation – with the prosecutor noting “the amount of $3 million”.

Mikhaylova’s claims were thrown out, leading her to take her claim against both the Local Court and NSW Police to the state’s highest court.

“I need to clear my name … they allocated the criminal history to me which will live with me for the rest of my life. I can’t really relax, I have panic attacks and anxiety every day,” she said.

According to a judgment handed down by the Supreme Court’s Justice Tim Faulkner last month, Mikhaylova, who speaks “close to flawless” English, also claimed more than $34,000 for a translator because she did not understand complex legal terms.

However, it transpired that the translator on whom she relied was her husband and not a translator at all. There was “no evidence” that he speaks Russian or indeed any language other than English, Faulkner noted.

Asked why she had failed to note that Hunt was her husband, Mikhaylova told the court that she was “single, financially”.

She told the Herald that her marital status was “completely irrelevant to my application to report the crime or receive the procedural costs”.