Nikkita Tai: Surfers Paradise brawl ends in good Samaritan losing an eye, Penrith woman jailed

A young soon-to-be mother has been jailed after she threw a bottle during a booze-fuelled brawl that struck the face of an innocent 24-year-old, causing her to permanently lose vision in an eye.

Glenmore Park woman Nikkita Tai, 21, who also goes by the surname Hunter. Picture: Facebook

A young NSW woman has been jailed after she threw a bottle during a booze-fuelled brawl at Surfers Paradise that struck the face of an innocent good Samaritan, causing her to permanently lose vision in an eye.

Glenmore Park woman Nikkita Tai, 21, who also goes by the surname Hunter, appeared in Southport District Court on February 27 where she pleaded guilty to a charge of grievous bodily harm.

The offence occurred about 1.30am on January 6 last year at Appel Park, off Ferny Ave.

Tai, who was heavily intoxicated, was engaged in what was described as a “consensual fight” with several men when the complainant, a 24-year-old Japanese national, witnessed the defendant get punched to the ground.

She approached Tai from behind, with the intention of assisting her, when suddenly Tai latched on to a glass bottle and launched it backwards, striking the woman in the face.

The force of the blow left the struck woman with a ruptured left eye globe, detached retina, and significant eyelid lacerations, the court heard.

The Japanese woman subsequently underwent three surgeries on her eye, which can only perceive light but no detail and is unlikely to improve further, and has been forced to leave her boyfriend in Australia to move back to her home country to live with her parents.

In a victim impact statement read to the court on her behalf, the victim said her “sense of self-worth plummeted” as a result of her disfigurement, and she remained unable to work.

Tai was arrested at the scene and spent two days in pre-sentence custody before receiving bail.

The court was told Tai was on bail for three charges of assault occasioning bodily harm in NSW at the time she committed the grievous bodily harm, and was subsequently charged with an offence of common assault after getting bail on the grievous bodily harm charge.

Defence counsel James Grehan told the court his client’s assault charges predominantly related to familial disputes which reflected the culture she grew up in as an Aboriginal woman in Mount Druitt.

Barrister James Grehan. Picture: Inns of Court Gold Coast

“Violence was the primary dispute resolution technique she was watching as she was growing up,” he said.

Mr Grehan submitted a term of custody would be particularly onerous for Tai, as she had the care of an 18-month-old son and was 12 weeks pregnant with her second-born.

However, he conceded he could not point to much rehabilitation undertaken by his client, aside from two brief, desultory efforts at counselling.

At one point, it seemed as though the sentence would not go ahead, with Tai, who spent much of the two and a half hour hearing weeping, instructing Mr Grehan during an intermission to seek an adjournment on the basis she suffered seizures (which had never been mentioned previously to any of her lawyers).

Judge Deborah Holliday KC was deeply suspicious of the request, which was subsequently withdrawn after Tai’s mother steeled her daughter in the dock.

Tai was sentenced to two and a half years’ imprisonment, with parole release after serving four months behind bars.