Felicia D’Jamirze sues Queensland Government over police raid which left her with burns
A former beauty queen from the Gold Coast, whose face was burned when police flash grenades exploded during a drug raid, is suing the Queensland Government for up to $1 million over the incident. WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES
Crime & Justice
Don't miss out on the headlines from Crime & Justice. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A FORMER beauty queen from the Gold Coast, whose face was burned when police flash grenades exploded during a drug raid, is suing the Queensland Government for up to $1 million for personal injury.
Felicia D’Jamirze, 30, from Hope Island, who walked free from court two years ago after pleading guilty to supplying ice, has changed her name by deed poll to Felitciana Zsha’Mirzzee and sued for physical and psychological injuries allegedly caused by the police.
BURNT BEAUTY QUEEN CUTS DEAL OVER ICE CHARGE
Zsha’Mirzzee, who was Miss Global Australia in 2014 and Miss International Australia in 2013, alleges her face was burned in a drug raid at Susan River, near Hervey Bay on February 9, 2016, according to documents sworn on February 1 and filed in the Supreme Court.
The daughter of a Russian immigrant, she was asleep at her fiance’s acreage home when police raided it and used grenades to stun the occupants.
In 2017 she pleaded guilty to supplying ice in a deal with prosecutors to drop a charge of producing ice.
She admitted she had set up kitchen scales and weighed 2g of artificial sweetener before her drug-trafficking fiance used the scales to weigh 400g of ice. She later cleaned the scales with disinfectant.
During her recovery in hospital in Sydney she appeared on a tabloid TV show where she told viewers: “I could feel that this side of my face was burning. I thought that I was on fire”.
“I felt like my hair was on fire and I was scared that another one was going to hit me and I was screaming out ‘Please stop, I’m hurt’,” she told A Current Affair.
No figure for the amount of compensation she is seeking has been given to the court however the Supreme Court has the jurisdiction to deal with personal injury claims worth $750,000 and more.
During her sentencing for ice supply, the court heard that Zsha’Mirzzee’s right hand was so badly injured that there “was a possibility … that it may be amputated” because “blood flow was restricted”.
She was also worried about losing her eyesight and has a “residual imperfection in the cornea” of her right eye, as well as reduced strength in her right hand, her sentencing hearing was told.
Her lawyer told the Supreme Court this month that the case needed to be filed by February 9 this year before the three-year expiration period.
On February 5 a Supreme Court deputy registrar ordered Zsha’Mirzzee be allowed to launch her case for damages.
The case has been put on hold pending Zsha’Mirzzee having her injuries assessed by doctors to determine any ongoing impairment.
Her former fiance, Dean Grant O’Donnell, 37, was the main target of the police raid and he was jailed for ice trafficking after 2kg of the drug and a “pump action shotgun”, and a handgun and silencer were found on land adjoining his property.
She hasn’t seen O’Donnell since the day of the raid and dumped him shortly afterwards, her sentencing hearing was told.
‘You’ve lost two licences, and you’re only a learner’
A learner driver copped an earful from an Ipswich magistrate over his astonishing accumulation of demerit points.
‘Night beautiful’: Mum accused of attempted murder
A mum accused of trying to murder her four-year-old daughter - by 'gassing' her in a car - has been sentenced for breaching her bail conditions by spending time with the girl.