Beautician Natalie Bonett fronts court over run in with cops

A Wallan beautician who made headlines when a video of her being dragged out of her car by police at a Covid checkpoint went viral also attacked cops on a separate occasion.

Wallan woman Natalie Bonett, 29, said she was dragged from her car by police at Kalkallo check point

A Melbourne beautician who was dragged out of her car by police at a Covid checkpoint and later had another run in with cops was mentally unwell at the time, a court has ruled.

Natalie Bonett, of Wallan, appeared in the County Court on Monday and she was sentenced to a 12-month good behaviour bond.

The 29-year-old pleaded guilty to conduct endangering persons and two counts of assaulting an emergency worker on duty.

Bonett first made the news when she refused to share her details with police after being stopped at the Kalkallo checkpoint in Melbourne’s north in October 2020.

She shared the video, which depicted her screaming while an officer leant in the window to unclip her seatbelt before dragging her out of the car, on her social media.

Natalie Bonett being dragged from her car by police at a checkpoint at Wallan. Picture: Facebook

The beauty business owner also posted images of bruises she sustained to her body, claiming four officers were “rough” and pinned her to the ground and handcuffed her.

She said she had been left “shaking, crying and in complete disbelief that I was treated this way”.

On November 9, 2020, Bonett was involved in another run-in with police in Brunswick West when she lashed out at two officers who were trying to detain her during a roadside intercept, in which she threw a tyre deflation device into an open lane of a freeway, placing other motorists in danger.

She was ordered to undergo the court’s integrated services program, focusing on mental health treatment to “rebuild your life”.

In October, Judge Duncan Allen had indicated that if Bonett successfully completed the program, she was likely to be released on a good behaviour bond.

Wallan woman Natalie Bonett, 29, shows the injuries she suffered after being dragged from her car by police at Kalkallo check point.

In court on Monday, Judge Allen said Bonett continued to respond well to treatment and that her mental health was well and truly under control.

A psychologist told the court Bonett was in a state of mental illness and incapable of exercising sound judgment by reason of anxiety and panic responses at the time of her offending.

She has been diagnosed with complex post-traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse disorder, generalised anxiety disorder, and at one stage, obsessive compulsive disorder.

“There’s no doubt and given all the evidence which have not been contested that at the time of the offending you were seriously affected by your mental illness which prevented you from exercising proper judgment and control,” Judge Allen said.

In the three years since the offending, he said Bonett has not only engaged in treatment but has returned to her self-employed and successful business which employed three people.