Woman dragged by hair through Newtown kebab shop in “horrendous” assault
The chips were down when a drunken fight ended with a young woman being dragged by her hair across the floor of a Newtown kebab shop last November. A magistrate said the young female attacker was lucky to avoid jail time.
Fairfield
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A young woman has received a suspended jail sentence after she started a horrifying brawl at a Newtown kebab restaurant that ended with a woman being dragged across the floor by her hair.
Eagle Vale woman Rosalyn Vakarewa, 24, admitted she was drunk when she bumped into a group of four women on King St in Newtown and started a verbal altercation with them on November 11 last year.
The women tried in vain to escape Vakarewa as she continued to make threats before she entered Mr Yeeros, threw one of the women to the floor and dragged her by her hair.
Other customers had to intervene in the terrifying incident before police officers arrested Vakarewa and charged her with affray and providing a false name.
Vakarewa wiped away tears as Fairfield Court Magistrate Peter Bugden criticised her “horrific” conduct that night.
“The maximum penalty for affray is 10 years in jail,” Magistrate Bugden said.
“You used both your hands to grab a girl by the hair and slammed her to the ground, and (your co-accused) held her while you punched her in the face.
“Why shouldn’t I send you to jail? That’s a horrendous assault.”
Magistrate Bugden said CCTV footage showed other customers holding their hands up in fear so they would also not be assaulted.
Vakarewa said she had started drinking because she was in a violent relationship and had since sought therapy and quit drinking.
“Thank God those girls are okay and weren’t seriously injured,” Vakarewa said.
“I feel terrible.”
Magistrate Bugden bemoaned violence among women as he handed down his judgment.
“Tragically in 2018 and for the last couple of years, what has taken place is young women getting involved in drunken violence on the street,” he said.
“For as long as I can remember young men have been involved in it but not young women and for the last couple of years the statistics provided indicate this offence is going through the roof among women.”
Magistrate Bugden acknowledged Vakarewa’s violent relationship had likely contributed to her behaviour that night, and said her guilty plea was the reason he would not send her to jail.
Vakarewa had been on a Section 10 bond for a string of driving offences, including mid-range drink driving.
Magistrate Bugden revoked the bond after Vakarewa was additionally convicted of driving disqualified on two occasions in Eagle Vale and Bossley Park.
On the second occasion, Ms Vakarewa was detected driving a short distance up the road to use the bathroom at a service station while working as a traffic controller in Bossley Park.
Vakarewa received $4500 in fines for the driving offences.