‘Psychotic’ attack leaves north Brisbane partygoer ‘absolutely traumatised’

A mother has been jailed over months of meth-fuelled mayhem during which she ‘unleashed’ in a violent attack on two random people on a suburban street.

A 36-year-old mother from Brisbane’s north was sentenced to jail at the Sandgate Magistrates Court on Wednesday for a series of unprovoked, drug-fuelled attacks that left a young partygoer “absolutely traumatised”.

Rachel Michael Naomi Ghee pleaded guilty to 13 charges spanning from April 28 to December 12, including public nuisance, methamphetamine possession, breaking into cars and stealing.

The most serious of the charges involved an incident on Battersby Rd at Zillmere on December 12 when Ghee assaulted one victim and damaged the car of another while under the influence of an “intoxicating substance”.

Rachel Michael Naomi Ghee pleaded guilty to 13 charges spanning from April 28 to December 12, including public nuisance, methamphetamine possession, breaking into cars and stealing.

According to an impact statement read in court by the police prosecutor, the victim of the wilful damage offence was waiting in her car for a friend, on the way to a birthday party, when Ghee randomly and without warning “unleashed a violent display”.

“That night of crime … left me absolutely traumatised,” the statement read.

“I replay the image in my mind of the anger and rage I saw in her eyes.

“Her violent actions have left me waking in the middle of the night with nightmares, unable to sleep and fearful of driving alone (or) being left alone in my own home.”

The victim detailed how the trauma transformed her from a friendly professional to a highly anxious individual, unable to complete a full day’s work.

The court heard Ghee suffered from a debilitating methamphetamine addiction.

The prosecutor described Ghee’s offending as “gratuitous violence” with “no logical reason”.

Ghee was on probation at the time of the offences, but according to her probation officer, seldom compiled or engaged with the conditions of her probation.

The court heard Ghee was “hostile” towards attempts at rehabilitation, at times forcing probation workers to terminate meetings due to her threatening behaviour.

Defence lawyer Andrew Ferrett of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service told the court a series of heartbreaking life events had led to Ghee’s intense anxiety and subsequent addiction to methamphetamines.

Ghee appeared at the Sandgate Magistrates Court on Wednesday, March 3.

Over the last two years, Ghee’s relationship with her partner broke down and she lost custody of her three children.

The loss, exacerbated by her own memories of a childhood spent in kinship care, caused the mother to experience unimaginable grief and sent her on a downward spiral that ultimately saw her receiving inpatient mental health care at the Prince Charles Hospital at Chermside.

Mr Ferrett characterised Ghee’s actions as “reminiscent of someone in a psychotic state”.

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Magistrate Jennifer Batts sentenced Ghee to one month imprisonment for both the wilful damage and the common assault with an immediate parole release.

For the balance of matters she was sentenced to two years probation.