Jessica Dunn sentenced in Townsville Magistrates Court for assaulting woman at Magnetic Island party

A woman had to get a tetanus shot after a heated conversation at a backpackers party turned violent, leaving her with chunks of hair missing and a grisly bite mark.

Jessica Dunn was sentenced in Townsville Magistrates Court after assaulting a woman at a base Magnetic Island backpackers party

A mother-of-two who ‘badmouthed’ a fellow partygoer’s husband has appeared in court after the argument took a violent turn, leaving the victim with a grisly bite mark, a court was told.

Jessica Dunn appeared in Townsville Magistrates Court on Monday after she ripped chunks of a woman’s hair out at a party following a verbal altercation.

Police Prosecutor Angela Trevaskis said the two women had previous disagreements before they both attended the base backpacker’s party on Magnetic Island.

“The defendant and victim were known to each other, as such as their sons were school friends,” Ms Trevaskis said.

“There had been previous incidents between the parties, the defendant saying that their sons couldn’t be friends anymore.”

“They’ve seen each other at the party, they’ve said hello, the defendant has started badmouthing the victim’s husband, and the victim started defending him and told her to stop.”

Ms Trevaskis said that the 33-year-old then attacked the victim, ripping out chunks of her hair and biting her on the bicep, which caused “significant bruising”.

“They were then separated with the victim attending her local GP to obtain a tetanus shot,” she said.

Defence lawyer Murray Bower said the attack was “alcohol-fuelled”.

“There were issues from the past between them. I won’t go into what those issues were, albeit to say that it involved the conduct – on (Dunn’s) version of the events – the conduct of the husband of the victim,” he said.

Magistrate Ken Taylor highlighted the “serious nature of the assault” and said he would take into account the fact Dunn had co-operated with Queensland Police Services.

“It is a concerning series of events,” he said.

Dunn pleaded guilty to one charge of assault occasioning bodily harm.

She was sentenced to nine months jail, wholly suspended for two years and was ordered to pay $500 in compensation to the victim.

Originally published as Jessica Dunn sentenced in Townsville Magistrates Court for assaulting woman at Magnetic Island party