Stacey Shipton: woman sentenced for assault at Pyrmont’s HarleQuin Inn
Moments after a Sydney woman was calmly enjoying a drink and a bet in a pub’s beer garden, she “clawed” a manager’s face to the point of bleeding and assaulted two police officers, a court has heard.
St George Shire Standard
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What started as an ordinary shift for the manager of a central Sydney pub one warm summer’s night ended in a violent assault.
He was “clawed” by 37-year-old Stacey Louise Shipton, who embarked on an aggressive tirade in which she viciously scratched two people – including a police officer – pulled the hair of another cop and hurled insults at bar staff, such as calling them “c*nts and b*tches”.
That’s according to facts tendered to Downing Centre Local Court, where Shipton was convicted and sentenced for assault occasioning actual bodily harm, assaulting a police officer to cause actual bodily harm and assaulting a police officer without causing actual bodily harm.
According to the facts, on January 21, Shipton and an unknown male went to HarleQuin Inn in Pyrmont, where they bought drinks and sat in a beer garden to bet on horses and dogs.
They had several TAB slips, two of which got lost as staff were clearing glasses and waste. One slip was found and at about 10pm, the man requested a refund for the remaining missing slip, for which the manager explained he could claim back online and offered the pair two free beers.
According to the facts, the man said this wasn’t good enough but still took the free beers back to his table. He said he wanted “financial benefits from the victim [manager] as compensation”.
About 15 minutes later, the man went back to the bar, ordered two more beers and said “we aren’t paying for these”. When the manager said they had to in fact pay, Shipton became argumentative with him and started swearing.
The man said he would come and pay for the beers when Shipton “escalated the situation” and continued to argue with the manager, who told them to leave.
According to the facts, a couple of minutes later, Shipton, from Arncliffe, went back to the bar and became aggressive, calling staff offensive slurs and daring the manager to call police when that was threatened.
The facts state Shipton “moved towards the victim and with her left hand swung it from her side and toward the victim’s face with a claw-like motion”.
“Her fingers connected with the victim’s right side of the face. The accused then clawed the victim’s face causing three scratch marks on the right cheek from eye down to the jaw line, one scratch producing a small amount of blood”.
When the manager tried to grab Shipton with both arms to restrain her from lashing out again, the male intervened. All three were holding each other by the arms until the manager shuffled the two outside the venue and closed the doors on them.
The facts read Shipton and the unknown male walked off in separate directions, while the manager returned to the bar where he was told he was bleeding, rendered first aid and called police.
At 11:30pm, police saw Shipton sitting about 50 metres from Harlequin Inn and arrested her. She told them she “flicked the mask” of the staff at Harlequin Inn.
Shipton, according to the facts, was searched and taken into a cage truck where she argued with police.
“The accused became aggressive, refused to comply, pulled away and laid on the ground,” the facts read.
“Police could not calm the accused, who yelled and flailed her arms around”.
While police tried to gain control, she pulled the hair of one of them. Then, while other officers attempted to restrain her, she scratched one constable on the left wrist, causing him to bleed.
She was handcuffed and taken to a police station.
Deputy Chief Magistrate Theo Tsavdaridis said it was his view the assaults did not fall at the lowest end of objective seriousness.
“When that victim went to work that day he did not intend to come back with cuts to his face,” he said.
“Every time blood is drawn in a situation like this, one needs to have tests done and has to do first aid.”
Magistrate Tsavdaridis sentenced Shipton 12-month community corrections order or good behaviour bond.
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