HispanicBusiness

Lucy Lawless, the star of TV show Xena: Warrior Princess, pleaded guilty on Thursday to charges arising from an oil exploration protest in New Zealand.

Lawless and seven other Greenpeace activists were charged with illegally occupying the Shell oil exploration ship the Noble Explorer at Port Taranaki on the west coast of the country's North Island in February.

The group occupied the ship's 53-metre-high derrick for four days in attempt to stop it leaving for an oil drilling programme off the coast of Alaska.

They were initially charged with burglary, but appearing in the Auckland District Court today they pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of illegally boarding a ship.

Outside court, Lawless told reporters said she had no plans to repeat her action but would continue to be associated with Greenpeace.

A criminal conviction would put her acting career at risk by restricting her ability to travel, but Lawless said "I had to do what I had to do."

Judge David Holderness remanded the group on bail to sentencing on September 14 in the New Plymouth District Court.