Matilda Rose Fulford sentenced in Townsville Magistrates Court after Dean Street bus-stop bashing

A woman who only a few months ago was sentenced for assaulting a corrective services officer is back before court after punching a man unprovoked in the city.

Matilda Rose Fulford sentenced in Townsville Magistrates Court after Dean Street bus-stop bashing. Picture: Google Maps

A North Queensland serial offender was back before court for a brazen assault on a man at a bus stop, with the woman’s own lawyer labelling her criminal history as ‘atrocious’.

Matilda Rose Fulford appeared in Townsville Magistrates Court on Thursday morning via video link after she launched a random daylight attack on a man who was sitting at a Dean Street bus stop on May 25.

Police prosecutor Lennon Stathoulis said the 52-year-old punched the man multiple times in the face causing cuts and bleeding, with the assault being caught on CCTV and witnessed by people nearby who had to intervene.

He said the man defended himself by slapping her and pushing her away.

The court was told the woman left on foot and refused to answer police questions.

When referring to her history, Mr Stathoulis said the woman had up to 38 entries of public nuisance offences that spanned across Townsville and Palm Island.

“It shows recidivism in relation to public nuisance offences,” he said.

“And it may be apt to describe the defendant as Townsville’s biggest public nuisance.”

Defence lawyer Tim Fedorowytsch from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Legal Services also made comment to his client’s heavy criminal history, and called it “atrocious”.

He told the court of her mental health as a schizophrenic and described she had been stabbed in front of her own child some time ago however noting her mental health played “no role” in her most recent offending.

Magistrate Carol Lee noted the woman was on a suspended sentence when she committed the bus stop assault and said it was “not unjust” to activate its remaining period.

Fulford pleaded guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm, possessing drugs, public nuisance, obstructing police and possessing property related to drug offending.

She was sentenced to 12 months’ jail with the 33 days of pre-sentence custody declared as time served and was given a parole release date of September 25.

Picture: doidam10 / iStock

‘Your history reflects our society’s failures’

As brought up at the beginning of court, earlier this year the Townsville woman pleaded guilty to serious assault of a corrective services officer in the magistrates court after she hit a guard with a tub of yoghurt while in a rage.

It was reported at the time that the spiral began with Fulford picking up a stool, raising it over her head and throwing it to the ground and when told to put it down by the guards she started throwing random objects around.

She was sentenced by Richard Lehmann who ordered the woman to three months’ jail, suspended immediately for 12 months.

In April 2023 the recidivist faced Ipswich District Court after pleading guilty to two charges of serious assault of a corrective services officer.

This time, the woman swapped the tub of yoghurt for spit as she spat at a guard with the spittle landing in the man’s eye.

Judge Alexander Horneman-Wren convicted the woman for the offences but ordered no further punishment as she was still serving a four and a half year prison sentence for stabbing another woman in the groin so hard the blade snapped off.

“Sadly your criminal history reflects our society’s failures in relation to a lot of Indigenous people in circumstances where, through no fault of their own they fall through the cracks in our society,” His Honour Judge Horneman-Wren said at the time.

Originally published as Matilda Rose Fulford sentenced in Townsville Magistrates Court after Dean Street bus-stop bashing