Abbey-Rose Sharp: Teen punched shop owner in Frankston mall
A 19-year-old was not happy after she was suspected of shoplifting, turning on the store boss and bashing her in the face.
South East
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A teen who punched a store owner in a busy Frankston street has been hit with a community corrections order and told to undergo anger management counselling.
Abbey-Rose Sharp was 19 when she assaulted the female shop boss in a brazen public attack, leaving the victim with bruising, redness and soreness to her face.
Sharp, now 22, pleaded guilty to unlawful assault at Frankston Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.
The Frankston woman also has a prior for violence after she was sentenced in 2019 to a community corrections order for assault by kicking.
The court heard the owner of a store in Shannon Street Mall in Frankston saw Sharp acting suspiciously with a bag at the back of her shop on February 9, 2019.
As she left the store the owner asked her to show the contents of the bag to prove she had not been shoplifting.
But she ignored her and walked off.
The shop owner followed Sharp to again see if she had stolen any items, before she turned around and punched the woman squarely in the face.
Police were called by other shoppers, but by the time they arrived Sharp had left the scene.
She was later arrested on an unrelated matter, providing a “no comment” interview.
Defence lawyer James Dowsley said Sharp accepted she had overreacted and her behaviour was inappropriate.
He said while the incident might have been frightening for the victim, the attack was not protracted, was one strike and the injury sustained was at the lower level.
He said his client had a history of drug use, homelessness and living on the street, but was now in stable accommodation and endeavouring to live a better life.
Magistrate Timothy Gattuso said although there was no charge of theft, the victim had every right to check Sharp’s belongings.
“The store owner believed she may have been having property stolen and she went to investigate that,” Mr Gattuso said.
“She is someone going about her job and trying to make a living.
“Then she is met with a punch in the face.”
Sharp was placed on a 10-month drug treatment-based community corrections order and must complete an anger management program.
