Shantel Helena-Jane Gawler in court for spitting on ambulance officer at Collinsville
A pregnant stay-at-home-Whitsunday region mum who spat on a paramedic attending to her injured boyfriend has been warned not to “bite the hand that feeds” her.
Police & Courts
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A pregnant stay-at-home-mum who spat on a paramedic attending to her injured boyfriend has been warned not to “bite the hand that feeds” her.
Shantel Helena-Jane Gawler, 20, spat on a male Queensland Ambulance Service officer after an alleged assault at Collinsville on November 8 during which Gawler’s defacto partner suffered a punctured lung.
Bowen Magistrates Court heard an “extremely agitated”, “erratic” and “disorderly” Gawler confronted the officer on his arrival at the scene about 4pm, after a witness reported the alleged assault.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Emma Myors told the court Gawler put her face close to the officer’s face, called him a “gronk” and told him to “f*ck off” multiple times before warning him “I’ll spit on you”.
As the man went to get supplies from the ambulance, Gawler followed through with the threat, “spraying” saliva on his pants and boots.
The court heard Gawler continued to behave aggressively later that afternoon at Collinsville Hospital, yelling at nurses that they were “incompetent”.
She then failed to attend Collinsville Police Station to provide her fingerprints in the required time frame.
She pleaded guilty to committing public nuisance, serious assault of a public officer, and contravening a direction or requirement of police.
Defence lawyer Peta Vernon told the court her client was 30 weeks pregnant with her second child and that “heightened emotions because of pregnancy” may have contributed to her “bad reaction to a very distressing situation”.
Ms Vernon said Gawler accepted she acted “inappropriately” and had since apologised to the paramedic several times and had started taking antidepressant medication.
Magistrate James Morton called Gawler’s behaviour “unacceptable” and asked her to think about who she would call on in the case of problems with her pregnancy.
“That ambulance officer you spat on, got in his face, told him to ‘f*ck off’ – do you think he’ll second guess helping you? No, because they help people,” Mr Morton said.
“They’re not to be dealt with like this, especially not by somebody like you – what have you contributed to society?”
The sentence was a $550 fine and nine months under the supervision of a corrective services officer.
No convictions were recorded.
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Originally published as Shantel Helena-Jane Gawler in court for spitting on ambulance officer at Collinsville
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