Tweed Heads West mum walks free for role in vigilante bully attack

The court heard the Tweed Heads mum went to police and her son’s principal, to no avail, before the violent assault occurred.

The court heard the charge related to Roman’s involvement in an August 2019 incident where her 14-year-old son and husband allegedly assaulted a man who had been involved in a group bullying the teen.

A Tweed Heads West mother has been given a second chance by a judge after she instigated a call that left her son’s bully with multiple broken bones.

The woman, who cannot be named, fronted Lismore District Court on Friday, July 9 for sentence over one kidnapping count of taking or detaining a person for advantage, namely psychological advantage.

The court heard the charge related to her involvement in an August 2019 incident where her 14-year-old son and husband allegedly assaulted a man who had been involved in a group bullying the teen.

According to the agreed facts, the family had moved from Sydney to Tweed Heads whereupon enrolling in school her son, who suffers from emotional and intellectual difficulties, began to be bullied by a group of schoolmates.

Despite the mother’s best efforts to curb the bullying, through consultation with the school principal, senior constables at the PCYC, and enrolling her two children in a variety of community sports, the harassment persisted.

On August 29, the intimidation reached its violent head.
While her son stayed home from school that day, he soon received a call from a friend who told the teen a carload of adults had stopped him, asking for the son as they were going to “f*** him up”.

The woman tried to contact police multiple times during the day but received no reply.

At 8.45pm, four adults, connected to her son’s main bully, approached the family’s home.

At the time, the woman was also babysitting two other children.

Scared, she told the group to leave the premises, to which they allegedly responded with “we’re not here to cause trouble, we just want to talk about your son hitting this young girl”, gesturing to the female member of the group.

She vehemently denied the accusations, before calling her husband and asking him to come.

As the group started to leave the driveway, a 4WD pulled up, containing her husband and two other males.

One was allegedly carrying an item resembling a baseball bat, while the other allegedly carried what looked to be a shotgun.

They chased one man up the driveway and caught hold of him.

At this time, the mother admitted to opening the security door, while her son followed, punching the man in the head and several times on the body.

Her husband then allegedly grabbed the man, and hit him with the bat, and pulled him into the unit.

The woman then opened the door and pushed the victim in – the extent of her alleged involvement charge.

However, it was alleged after heading inside, the man was further assaulted, with her husband allegedly breaking his arm and leg.

Speaking to the court on Friday, the accused said she had been “heartbroken” over her involvement in the alleged assault, which saw her in custody for just over a month and estranged from her son for a year due to bail conditions.

“It was horrible, horrible, the impact it’s had on myself, and my son and the victim,” she said tearing up.

“It has been traumatic (for the victim).”

The court heard the mother was “regretful” she didn’t call police that night and had since ended the relationship with her husband.

The Crown Prosecutor conceded “the height” of the woman’s criminality was that she “did not appear to restrain her son” as he inflicted the violence.

In his sentencing, Judge Warwick Hunt said it was important to examine the accused's role separately rather than “conflate the actions of co-offenders and herself”.

The whole episode … taken as a whole was a very serious set of criminal undertakings,” he said.

“Such vigilante action is inconsistent with the standard we hold dear in a democratic society”

However, he acknowledged the event was “unplanned” from someone of “previously good character”.

Given that, the woman was not convicted and Judge Hunt placed her under a conditional release order for a period of two years.

“You were well articulated and know what you did was wrong,” he said.

“If you can see out this conditional liberty, you can put this experience behind you.”

Her son has been found guilty and sentenced by Lismore Children’s Court for his part in the assault.

Her ex-husband will face a Lismore District Court trial at a later stage.