Pregnant mum Hope Kennedy-Tilse avoids jail after Ipswich pool cue assault

A pregnant Ipswich mum was “extremely lucky” to avoid jail just weeks away from her due date after she and her boyfriend brutally assaulted a man with a pool cue.

Hope Allirra Kaye Kennedy-Tilse leaving Ipswich Courthouse on February 16, 2023. Picture: Nicola McNamara

A court has heard how an Ipswich couple brutally beat a man with a pool cue at a local shopping centre over a minor neighbourhood dispute.

Redbank Plains resident Hope Allirra Kaye Kennedy-Tilse, 21, pleaded guilty in Ipswich District Court on February 16 to one count of armed robbery in company, in which she used personal violence.

The court heard Kennedy-Tilse and her boyfriend at the time, Dylan Lloyd, had assaulted Lloyd’s neighbour on February 19, 2021.

Crown prosecutor Michelle Parfitt said Lloyd argued with the neighbour earlier in the day, and Lloyd and Kennedy-Tilse then accosted the man while he was out grocery shopping at Booval Fair.

The court heard Kennedy-Tilse pulled a shortened pool cue out of her sleeve and handed it to Lloyd as they approached the man in the carpark.

The man used his phone to film them and Kennedy-Tilse screamed at Lloyd to grab the phone.

Ms Parfitt said Lloyd then struck the man with the pool cue and the man tripped over backwards.

The court heard Lloyd struck him several more times and Kennedy-Tilse also kicked him repeatedly while he was on the ground.

The couple eventually left, taking the man’s phone and hat with them.

The victim suffered multiple cuts, along with bruising to his back and left rib.

His victim impact statement outlined how he became paranoid after the offending – becoming afraid of leaving the house and generally leading a more isolated existence.

Dylan Graham Lloyd. Picture: File

Lloyd received a two and a half year jail sentence in late 2021 for the assault, aged 24 at the time. He was released after 256 days in custody.

The court heard Kennedy-Tilse committed the assault around eight months after being sentenced for armed robbery and assault offences, for which she received a suspended two and a half year sentence.

After the pool cue assault, she was taken into custody to serve that previous sentence behind bars.

She spent 321 days in custody, which Judge Dennis Lynch said he would not be able to declare as time served for this offence as a result of the prior offending.

Ms Parfitt suggested the time should nonetheless be taken into account and that Kennedy-Tilse need not serve any actual time in custody for this offending.

Judge Lynch initially said that would be a “totally inadequate” sentence but later changed his tune after hearing defence barrister Steve Kissick’s submissions.

Mr Kissick told the court his client had not reoffended in the year since her release from custody and had taken significant steps to rehabilitate herself, with assistance from the Next Step Plus program.

Hope Allirra Kaye Kennedy-Tilse outside Ipswich Courthouse on February 16, 2023. Picture: Nicola McNamara

The court heard Kennedy-Tilse had a “profoundly disadvantaged upbringing” and received a provisional diagnosis some years ago of depression, anxiety, BPD, ADHD, and PTSD.

Mr Kissick said Kennedy-Tilse had previously used drugs but had stopped over the last year and cut off connections to those that had previously exposed her to criminality.

“The last thing she wants for her son is to be drug affected or to be taken into care,” Ms Kissick said.

Judge Lynch adjourned for a short time to consider the submissions and said he was “ultimately persuaded” Kennedy-Tilse would not require any actual time in custody.

“I confess to, having heard that submission, being surprised at the generous nature of it,” he told Ms Parfitt.

He told Kennedy-Tilse she should consider herself “extremely lucky” to not be returning to custody.

“It’s to your great credit, it seems to me, that you have apparently turned your life around completely,” he said.

“It would now be counter-productive to require you to serve a period of actual imprisonment.”

Kennedy-Tilse was sentenced to two years imprisonment, wholly suspended for three years.