Patricia Maree Eileen Graaf avoids jail for bus driver assault

A Sunshine Coast mother-of-ten has escaped jail after attacking a bus driver in a confrontation sparked by alleged racial abuse.

Patricia Maree Eileen Graaf faced the Maroochydore Murri Court last month for sentence. Picture: Patrick Woods

A Buderim mother-of-ten has escaped a stint behind bars after she attacked a bus driver.

Patricia Maree Eileen Graaf told police the reason why she attacked a 65-year-old bus driver was due to an alleged slight by the victim relating to her father and son.

Maroochydore Murri Court was told in late November the 41-year-old was trying to catch the bus on March 26 in Maroochydore when the driver told her to put her drink in a council bin.

Magistrate Chris Callaghan said Graaf placed the drink on top of the bin which prompted the driver to tell the mother to again put it in the bin.

Mr Callaghan said Graaf hopped on the bus and verbally abused the driver, which involved calling him a “redneck” and a “c---”.

The driver was forced to call bus communications and request police assistance.

Graaf then reached around the security glass and struck the 65-year-old man in the face, which caused his glasses to fall off. Mr Callaghan said this must have caused a cut to the bridge of his nose.

Graaf outside court on another occasion. Picture: Patrick Woods

Graaf was later charged with public nuisance and serious assault of a person over 60, which she pleaded guilty to in court.

Defence solicitor Rod Morgan said Graaf had engaged with the Murri Court program, which involved counselling and indigenous cultural connection.

Mr Morgan said she abstained from hard drugs two years ago and had turned a corner in her life.

The solicitor said he was instructed there was some animosity between Graaf and the bus driver, as she alleged he did not stop for her father and son.

She accepted the assault was unjustified and was remorseful. He said she only had a limited criminal history which included a common assault from last year.

Elders present at the bar table also echoed his submissions and cited Graaf’s commitment to change.

Mr Callaghan said people who worked in the community deserved to go to work without being “hassled like that”.

He however said it was not challenged by police there had been earlier alleged “racial abuse” to Graaf and her family from the bus driver, which sparked animosity between the pair. He also acknowledged her rehabilitation.

Graaf was jailed for six months, which was immediately suspended for six months.

Originally published as Patricia Maree Eileen Graaf avoids jail for bus driver assault