Cairns crime: Jasmine Jewel Veivers sentenced for grievous bodily harm

A woman who viciously attacked a homeless man with a cane cutting knife “just combusted, she overreacted ... and he did nothing wrong,” according to a defence lawyer.

Stock picture.

A woman attacked a homeless man with a cane knife, slicing his arm to the bone and severing arteries and tendons, a court has heard.

The Cairns District Court heard Jasmine Jewel Veivers, 33, was on parole for previous violent offending at the time of the attack.

Defence barrister Rachelle Logan said Veivers was intoxicated and became impatient with the man.

“She just combusted, she overreacted and assaulted him, he did nothing,” Ms Logan said.

Judge Leanne Clare, who was shown photos of the man’s injuries, said it was “a gruesome offence involving a terrible attack while you were on parole”.

The court heard that after Veivers’ long term relationship ended, Veivers started using methamphetamine.

The victim lived in his car and parked it at Veivers'’s place from time to time, and she had been partying for three days without sleep, Judge Clare said.

“All of a sudden you wanted him gone, he didn’t go and you erupted in rage,” she said.

She punched the man in the face, smashing his nose, and he retaliated by taking a hammer to her windscreen.

Veivers then got the cane knife.

“You got the cane knife on a long piece of wood and he ran as you took swings at him, you swung the knife at his head and it must have been a powerful swing because he shielded himself with his arm and it was sliced straight through to the bone,” Judge Clare said.

Cairns District Court heard that Jasmine Jewel Veivers, 33, attacked a homeless man with a cane cutting knife. Picture: File photo

The man’s arm was fractured in multiple places and arteries and tendons were severed and he required surgery involving screws and plates.

“You continued to hammer into his car as he pleaded with you for help, bleeding heavily,” Judge Clare said.

“Perhaps understandably, he feared he was dying”.

Prosecutor Matthew Hancock said Veivers’ previous convictions were for inflicting serious knife injuries on her former partner, attacking him and stabbing him in the face with a filleting knife, and pouring boiling hot noodles on another person.

He said Veivers had made only a “superficial effort” on parole, and had been in custody since October 2021, after being arrested.

She managed to facilitate obtaining methamphetamine while in custody, which was the basis of another charge, and police found an unsophisticated cannabis operation that involved 17 plants for her own use.

Mr Hancock said while Veivers had been in custody for 628 days, only 528 days were eligible to be considered as time served, because of her previous convictions.

Ms Logan said Veivers had a job in custody and was volunteering as a peer support worker, and had reconciled as friends with her former partner, who was willing to assist her in co-parenting.

Judge Clare said the weapon used attested to the viciousness of the assault and it was a bad example of grievous bodily harm.

“The distance between causing grievous bodily harm and manslaughter is not very big,” Judge Clare said.

“If he had not shielded his head, he could very well be dead or seriously maimed.”

Judge Clare said Veivers showed callous disregard for the man.

But she noted references stating that in prison, Veivers was a calm and kind person who was engaging in a range of rehabilitation programs, and had the goal of having a relationship with her 10-year-old son.

She sentenced Veivers to a head sentence of five years’ in prison, she was convicted but not further punished for cannabis offences, with a parole eligibility date of July 13.

Originally published as Cairns crime: Jasmine Jewel Veivers sentenced for grievous bodily harm