Longford woman guilty of bashing boyfriend

A Tasmanian disability support worker left her boyfriend bleeding onto the kitchen floor after she punched him repeatedly, despite the fact he had just saved her from serious injury.

A “highly intoxicated” Tasmanian disability support worker inexplicably bashed her boyfriend of three years after he saved her from falling into her own fireplace, an attack which left him bleeding onto the kitchen floor.

Longford woman Nicole Baker, 43, pleaded guilty to a charge of common assault at the first opportunity in Launceston Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

The assault occurred on the evening of July 16 at the Longford home Baker shared with her boyfriend of three years.

The court heard the pair had been drinking at home since 2pm and then, later, at the Blenheim Inn Hotel, on the day in question.

Defence lawyer Matthew Williams told the court his client drank six to eight mid-strength beers at home before consuming jelly vodka shots and double-strength vodka premixes at the hotel.

After returning home at approximately 9pm, Baker was “highly intoxicated”, the court heard, leading her to almost fall into her own fireplace, but for the intervention of her boyfriend.

Mr Williams told the court Baker’s boyfriend said something to her – she “can’t recall” exactly what was said – which made his client “very emotional”.

She lashed out, punching her boyfriend repeatedly to the arms and once to the mouth, causing his lip to split and blood to drip onto the kitchen floor.

Baker’s boyfriend fled onto the street, at which point Baker phoned police and told them her boyfriend was in fact violent towards her, leading to his arrest on suspicion of family violence once he was located.

Baker showed police injuries to her elbow and face, which were in fact from an intoxicated stumble she took earlier in the night, in support of her false allegation.

Baker attended Longford Police Station the following day to admit she concocted the allegations against her boyfriend and that she was in fact the one who assaulted him.

She told Longford officers she “became a different person” when drinking.

The pair remain together, the court heard.

Mr Williams told the court his client had “made an effort to decrease the frequency and amount of alcohol she consumed”.

He noted she was “generally of good character”, with only traffic convictions on her record since 2007.

She was, however, handed a suspended sentence with convictions recorded in 2005 for a string of dishonesty-type offences.

Mr Williams said his client, a mother-of-three, was concerned her employment as a disability support worker would be jeopardised by the recording of a conviction.

Magistrate Simon Brown fined her $500, ordered she pay costs of $91.40, and recorded a conviction.

Originally published as Longford woman guilty of bashing boyfriend