Stranger’s ‘bizarre’ assault on small children at Camden Motor Inn, Mermaid Beach

A woman has faced court after she entered a stranger’s Gold Coast motel room and assaulted two young children.

A woman has faced court after she entered a stranger’s motel room and assaulted two young children by holding their wrists.

New Zealand woman Kathryn Jayne Curtling said she did so because she was “worried” about the children.

She pleaded guilty to three counts of common assault and one charge each of commit public nuisance and being drunk in a public place in the Southport Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

Magistrate Sarah Thompson placed Curtling on a $500 good behaviour bond for six months over the incident she described as a “bizarre event”.

Kathryn Jayne Curtling outside the Southport Courthouse. Picture: Melanie Whiting

Around 7.20pm on August 9, Curtling entered a motel room at the Camden Motor Inn Mermaid Beach where the children, aged five and two, were staying with their parents.

The woman then left the room holding the children by their wrists, the court was told.

The children’s mother was 20m away from the room when the incident occurred.

When the mother tried to retrieve her children, Curtling blocked and pushed the woman away, the court was told.

Police were called to the scene and witnesses told them they had urged Curtling to leave the children alone.

They said Curtling had also yelled at the childrens’ mother.

The incident was captured on CCTV.

The assaults occurred at the Camden Motor Inn, Mermaid Beach.

Curtling appeared intoxicated to police at the scene and her speech was slurred, the court was told.

Curtling told Magistrate Thompson she had been drinking that day and had mistakenly taken a diazepam pill.

“I didn’t grab the children by the wrist, I held them by the hand. I had been worried about those children all day,” she said.

“I can’t believe I did all that, I should have just rung the police and told them I was worried about the children.

“I can’t really remember anything. It was obviously the diazepam.

“I have got a seven-year-old granddaughter, I have been a nanny for years. I would never even think to hurt children.”

The court was told Curtling was staying at the motel during a short holiday and intended to return to her home country of New Zealand as soon as possible.

Magistrate Thompson took into account Curtling’s lack of history and early guilty plea when she placed the woman on the good behaviour bond.

No conviction was recorded.