Bianca Rees convicted of Miranda Hotel beer garden assault
A young woman who repeatedly kicked and punched a woman during a pub brawl in Sydney’s south was suffering post-traumatic stress after she was a victim of horrific violence herself.
St George Shire Standard
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A young woman convicted of a savage assault at a Sydney pub was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after her former partner beat her so badly he has since been jailed, a court heard.
Bianca Rees, 21, tearfully expressed her remorse for her part in the shocking brawl at the Miranda Hotel, in which she and her friends Tayhla Fernley and Tahlia Milton brutally assaulted another woman in the beer garden.
“I know what I did was wrong and I wish I could take it all back,” Rees told the court.
Rees was convicted and sentenced to a 12-month community corrections order for her role in the shocking melee after an unsuccessful attempt to have the charge of assault causing actual bodily harm dismissed under the Mental Health Act.
Police facts state a verbal disagreement had deteriorated before Fernley, 20, threw the first punch, then Rees kicked and pummelled the female victim for 25 seconds.
It took several members of the public, security and the hotel manager to pull Rees off the victim.
“Rees kicked and punched the victim as she attempted to protect herself, putting her arms up to protect her head and face,” the agreed facts stated.
“While the victim was being attacked by Rees, Milton approached the melee and threw three hammer strike punches with her right hand down on the victim’s head.”
At Sutherland Local Court, Magistrate Les Mabbutt acknowledged Rees’s tragic personal circumstances but said there was no alternative to a conviction due to the grim circumstances of the assault.
“She suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, as she has been a victim of domestic violence and that in itself is very sad,” Mr Mabbutt said.
“I cannot view this offence as minor in any way and I can’t deal with it in any other way than recording a conviction.”
The court heard Rees had “blacked out” during the violent assault and had since stopped drinking.
“She’s a young woman with no criminal history,” Mr Mabbutt said.
“She’s said drinking makes her emotions crazy.”
Rees’s solicitor Nicholas Breen said she continued to work and pursue tertiary education as she intended to turn her life around.
Fernley and Milton were also sentenced to 12-month community corrections orders at Sutherland Local Court on prior occasions.