Kidman's restraining order request granted
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-01-28 09:34

Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman won a temporary battle against two freelance photographers on Thursday when a Sydney court granted her request for a restraining order against them.

Nicole Kidman arrives for the 62nd Annual Golden Globe Awards on Sunday, Jan. 16, 2005, in Beverly Hills, Calif. [AP]

Kidman filed an application with the Waverly Local Court on Wednesday to issue restraining orders against photographers Jamie Fawcett, 43, and Ben McDonald, 32, following the discovery earlier this week of an electronic listening device that was allegedly planted outside her Sydney mansion.

Kidman and the photographers were not in court for the hearing.

Magistrate Lee Gilmore ordered the photographers not to approach the Australian-born actress at her home, or go within 66 feet of her house.

The restraining orders will remain in place until at least Feb. 11, when the case returns to court.

Photographers have been staking out the superstar's house since she arrived in Sydney on Sunday to begin filming her new movie, Eucalyptus.

Security guards performing a routine search of the property before Kidman's arrival discovered an electronic listening device that had allegedly been planted near a security vehicle that was monitoring her mansion.

Kidman's chief bodyguard Neil McMaster said Monday that surveillance footage taken from the house showed that the bug had been intentionally planted by someone seeking to intercept conversations between Kidman and her bodyguards.

Graham Walsh, a lawyer for McDonald, said Thursday that his client had nothing to do with the alleged bugging.

"He absolutely denies emphatically he has anything to do with planting any listening device anywhere near Miss Kidman's home," Walsh told the court.

Roland Day, representing Fawcett, also denied the allegations and said his client was merely doing his job.

Neither Kidman nor the two photographers appeared in court on Thursday.

Gilmore said she understood the two men were entitled to make a living as photographers.

"It's all a matter of degree," she told the court. "As Miss Kidman says, she's willing to put up with some (of) it but it's gone beyond that."

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