Raina Jane Cruise brutally bashed pregnant police officer in Hindley St attack, court told

A female police officer has revealed the horrifying moment she was set upon by an enraged anti-vaxxer in Adelaide’s party strip - while pregnant.

A female police officer who had “chunks” of her hair ripped out by a raging anti-vaxxer at an Adelaide pub in 2021 was in the early stages of her first pregnancy, a court has heard.

Raina Jane Cruise, 41, appeared in the District Court on Monday in front of Judge Joanne Deuter for sentencing submissions after being found guilty of intentionally causing harm to an emergency worker earlier this year in a judge-alone trial.

At the start of the trial, Cruise also pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated assault.

Constable Anthea Beck, who was left with graphic injuries after the horrific attack, read a victim impact statement detailing how the violent incident at the Exeter Hotel had “coloured her pregnancy”.

Injuries sustained by SA Police Constable Anthea Beck. Picture: District Court registry

Injuries sustained by SA Police Constable Anthea Beck. Picture: District Court registry

“I didn’t know, but I was pregnant with my daughter,” Ms Beck said. “The assault was awful, and I didn’t deserve it – I was just doing my job.

“When you kicked me, you kicked my baby. I can’t think of my pregnancy without thinking about you … I never want to speak about this again, you’ve taken enough from me.”

Cruise pleaded guilty to assaulting two Exeter Hotel security officers on October 17, 2021, after a disagreement over the venue’s Covid mask policy, but pleaded not guilty to intentionally causing harm to Constable Beck on the same night.

Cruise made an unsuccessful bid for the federal Senate as an anti-vax candidate. Picture: Instagram

Images from Raina Cruise’s Instagram account.

The incident occurred after Cruise noticed her friends being removed from the pub following anti-social behaviour, with her defence counsel submitting she then acted in a manner that was in the interest of “protecting them”.

At trial, prosecutors alleged Cruise, a former political candidate for the ‘Informed Medical Options Party’, was “argumentative, belligerent, obnoxious and frankly dangerous” during the encounter, which was recorded on police bodycam.

Raina Cruise outside the Adelaide Magistrates Court. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Mariuz

They alleged she waved her hands in front of police and said “obey me”, and compared them to “Nazi Germany”, before “latching on” to Constable Beck.

They further alleged Cruise said, “I will smash you one-on-one, b***h” as she pulled clumps of hair from Constable Beck’s scalp.

The court heard Cruise had a previous conviction for assaulting police in 2005.

She also previously posed on social media in a makeshift Covid mask bra, saying she had “worked out” how to wear them.

On Monday, Andrew Graham, for Cruise, told the court Constable Beck’s victim impact statement had “resonated” with his client – a mother of three who had lost a fourth child at the age of just two months old in 2003.

“There was an emotional reaction to reading that (statement) – in particular the revelation that Constable Beck was pregnant,” Mr Graham said.

“Ms Cruise is someone who has dealt with a lot of trauma in her life and occasionally she gets drunk as a poor coping mechanism for that and she behaves quite poorly. That’s what she needs to deal with.

“It’s not as if Ms Cruise is a methamphetamine addict that’s going out and breaking into houses and stealing DVD players … she’s a binge drinker.”

Cruise will return to court in December for sentencing.

Originally published as Raina Jane Cruise brutally bashed pregnant police officer in Hindley St attack, court told