Brianna Lenehan: Troubled Balgownie mother sentenced for police stabbing
A young Balgownie mother has learned her fate after stabbing a police officer, with details of the violent altercation read out in court. Watch the shocking video.
Illawarra Star
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A 23-year-old Balgownie woman with a harrowing upbringing was sentenced to three-and-a-half years imprisonment in Wollongong District Court on Wednesday after a violent altercation with police in August last year.
At the hearing on Friday, mother of two, Brianna Lenehan pleaded guilty to three charges of wounding a person with the intent to resist arrest, assaulting an officer and intimidation stemming from the night in 2021 where the mother-of-two stabbed a police officer in the hand.
The court was shown confronting police body-worn camera footage of police officers at her Tucker Street address in Balgownie following a noise complaint from a neighbour.
The door was answered just after 9.30pm on August 14, 2021 by her 18-year-old brother before Lenehan, an Indigenous woman, confronted police wearing nothing but a bath towel.
Lenehan identified who she was while unleashing a verbal tirade on the officers while her brother tried to calm her down while pleading for officers to let her go inside and put some clothes on.
The police followed the pair inside with the footage showing Lenehan go to the kitchen and pull out a large knife which she levered above her head.
Police can be heard yelling “put the knife down, we‘ve got a knife, we’ve got a knife” before a male officer fired their taser, but it was ineffective.
That officer stumbled backwards as Lenehan lunged forward with the knife, inflicting a one-inch wound in his hand.
Lenehan can be heard shouting “you ain’t gonna taser me dog” before another officer fired their taser and she fell to the ground yelling “I’ve done nothing you dogs” and that she has PTSD.
Lenehan has been in custody ever since, having been sentenced for reckless wounding in November last year.
The officer was taken to Wollongong Hospital for treatment where he received three stitches.
In court on Wednesday, Judge John Hatzistergos outlined the horrendous experiences Lenehan has endured throughout her life which he said went a long way to explaining the events at Tucker St.
Judge Hatzistergos said Lenehan had “suffered profound deprivation in her upbringing” and was “subjected to many forms of abuse and trauma” in her youth.
Lenehan was a victim of various forms of abuse in her childhood, she experienced homelessness and exposure to drugs and alcohol from a young age.
The court heard how she had a drug-dealing father and her mother, who had been in and out prison, was murdered by her partner (not Lenehan’s father) when she was 15.
The judge said these events led Lenehan to being a “damaged and vulnerable young woman” in need of intensive treatment.
However, he refused to acknowledge Lenehan’s consumption of a 700ml bottle of bourbon on the night as a mitigating factor.
“There is no evidence the injury was life threatening,” Judge Hatzistergos said as Lenehan appeared via video link with the support of her father in the court.
“Although the agreed facts disclose the offender at one point swung a knife towards the officer’s chest. It’s fortuitous that a more serious injury wasn’t inflicted.
“I’m somewhat guarded about the prospects of rehabilitation. The risk of reoffending is medium to high, but she’s not without hope. Intensive rehabilitation would see the likelihood of reoffending reduced.
The harm done to the victim and the community needs to be recognised. The hard work (of police) needs to be encouraged for the protection of lives and the community. Police officers take substantial risks in the execution of their duties.
“However the sentence needs to consider her upbringing and this case should not be used as a deterrence.”
Lenehan’s sentence was backdated to November 14, 2021 and she has a non parole period of one year and nine months which will expire in August 2023.
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