Stephanie Ormsby-Callaghan: Guilty of Kingsgrove assault on bus marshal
A trio of friends smashed a veteran bus marshal’s glasses before a 25-year-old woman attacked him with a phone and scratched him with her nails.
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A drunk woman punched and scratched a bus marshal after his glasses had been smashed – leaving him unable to see more than a metre.
Stephanie Ormsby-Callaghan was on the way to The Star casino with mates to see a DJ perform when she attacked the veteran marshal at Kingsgrove bus depot.
The 25-year-old hit the man several times with her phone as she tried to record the incident.
At Sutherland Local Court she pleaded not guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm and argued it was a case of mistaken identity.
Her defence also argued she may have scratched him accidentally.
However, Magistrate Les Mabbutt said he was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt about the victim’s evidence and called her actions “deliberate”.
She also pleaded guilty to goods in custody after police found a stolen phone charger in her bag.
Ormsby-Callaghan, who police describe as “moderately intoxicated” at the time of the attack, had been on the way to The Star with two friends on December 15, 2018.
A conversation between her male friend and the bus marshal turned ugly and the man attempted to punch the marshal, but missed him.
The trio then ran from the scene.
Upon returning, the male in the group grabbed the victim’s hat while someone else snatched his glasses, breaking them in the process, which rendered him unable to see beyond one arm’s length.
The male friend and the marshal then wrestled for the victim’s phone after he attempted to film the attack on him.
He then used a colleague’s phone to call the police.
Ormsby-Callaghan got on a bus still hoping to head towards the city.
She had tried to film the victim, although she accidentally took a series of photos instead.
The marshal told her she needed to wait for police – at which point Ormsby-Callaghan started hitting him with her phone.
Midway through the attack she dropped the phone and it was picked up by the marshal who declared it as “evidence”.
A security guard intervened, before Ormsby-Callaghan then attempted to kick the victim and scratch his arm.
Police images displayed in court showed scratches on the his arm and swelling to his face.
The victim told the court he had served as a bus marshal for almost 20 years.
He said he had dealt with many drunk people over the years but he had never actually been attacked as he was that day.
“It was a big mess,” the victim said.
“She used the phone to hit me.”
Ormsby-Callaghan will be sentenced at a later date.