Dusty-Lee Grace Grant, Hannah Grace Nicholls sentenced in Warwick court

A mum of four has claimed she was initially trying to help her victim after she dragged the woman out of the car by the hair and punched her before her friend spent the following days harassing and threatening the same target.

A Warwick mother of four who violently assaulted another woman in the street and her friend who went on to harass and threaten to kill the same victim just days later have been slammed in court for their “appalling, unacceptable” conduct.

Dusty-Lee Grace Grant, 30, and Hannah Grace Nicholls, 19, were both passengers in a car on the evening of February 15 when they spotted the third woman in another vehicle and followed her to a Horsman Rd home.

Police prosecutor Steve de Lissa told the Warwick Magistrates Court that Grant then got out of the car and began yelling at the other woman about an ex-partner, with the pair continuing to argue until the second woman hit her phone against Grant’s head, prompting her to yell at the victim to get out of the car.

Dusty-Lee Grace Grant, 30, pleaded guilty in Warwick Magistrates Court to one count of common assault. Picture: social media

“(Grant) grabbed the victim’s hair, wrapping it around her hand, and pulling the victim down and out of the vehicle,” Sergeant de Lissa said.

“(She) has used her free hand to punch the victim in the head as she continued holding the victim’s hair.”

It was just two days later that Nicholls then spotted the same victim leaving the Warwick police station on Fitzroy St after reporting the assault, including having photographs taken of her resulting injuries.

Sergeant de Lissa said Nicholls filmed the victim as she was driven past and sent the video to the woman via Instagram, followed by a series of threatening and abusive messages such as, “You’re a f —king dog c —t, I promise ya [sic] I’ll do it again but way worse.”

“Go tell the cops, ya [sic] mutt, I’ll f —king kill you c —t. I know you’re at the cop shop, dog – show them, I don’t f —king care,” he read to the court.

Nicholls again targeted the victim only days later on February 20, this time noticing the woman driving out of the McDonald’s car park and hurling abuse before following her for several blocks to the Condamine Medical Centre complex.

Sergeant de Lissa said the victim remained in her vehicle as the 19-year-old stood in a garden bed and continued yelling at her while swinging a small stick she had found nearby, calling the woman a “dog” and a “sl-t” and again threatening to kill her.

Hannah Grace Nicholls, 19, pleaded guilty to committing public nuisance and using a carriage service to menace, harass, or cause offence in Warwick Magistrates Court this week. Photo: Facebook

Grant’s defence lawyer Clare Hine told the Warwick court that her client had been a close friend and a vital source of support to her victim while the woman was going through a difficult family situation, and on the night of the assault believed she had seen the woman in the car with an abusive ex-partner.

She said the altercation escalated when the mother of four believed her friend was at the house to see a criminal associate.

“She basically had a go at the victim and said, ‘What do you think you’re doing?’, and arms were flailing around,” Ms Hine said.

“The victim accidentally hit my client with her telephone, and that seems to be the real catalyst to my client’s pulling the victim out of her car and punching her.”

Ms Hine said Grant had grown up in a violent home environment and suffered trauma as a victim of abuse herself, and had been working with Lives Lived Well and other rehabilitation services for several years to break her pattern of substance abuse.

“She has struggled with mental health throughout her life, and has been diagnosed with depression, anxiety, borderline personality disorder, and very recently she was diagnosed with bipolar,” she said.

Nicholls’ defence lawyer Nathan Bouchier said the younger woman’s role in the offending could be put down to a “misguided sense of loyalty” to Grant.

He said the 19-year-old was violently assaulted only a few years earlier and was still receiving some treatment as a result today, and had recently obtained work in the aged care sector in an effort to move forward with her life.

“She acknowledges it is completely the wrong way to deal with issues between the parties, and she acknowledged with police when she was spoken to that her actions were wrong and demonstrated some remorse in that regard,” Mr Bouchier said.

Magistrate Virginia Sturgess warned Grant that she was dangerously close to spending actual time behind bars given her violent criminal history, which featured previous convictions for acts intended to cause grievous bodily harm and assault occasioning bodily harm.

“I accept you have experienced a number of traumatic events throughout your life, but nevertheless, that’s not an excuse to engage in violent offending,” she said.

“And unfortunately you do have a history of committing violence, so it’s not a one-off or out of character offence.”

Nicholls’ role in the offending was slammed as “horrible”, “threatening”, and “inexcusable” by Ms Sturgess, who questioned whether the Warwick woman should be working with vulnerable aged care residents after displaying “unacceptable behaviour on every level”.

Grant pleaded guilty to one count of common assault and was sentenced to six months’ jail, wholly suspended for 18 months.

Nicholls pleaded guilty to one count each of public nuisance and using a carriage service to menace, harass, or cause offence.

She was placed on a good behaviour bond for 12 months and fined $400. No criminal conviction was recorded.