Gabrielle Kent choked partner, kicked cop in face at Ravenswood
A Tasmanian mum choked her partner when breaking up with him, then violently resisted arrest, kicking a police officer in the face, during unrelated episodes.
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A young Tasmanian mum choked her partner when breaking up with him, then violently resisted arrest, kicking a police officer in the face, during unrelated episodes.
Beaconsfield woman Gabrielle Jane Kent, 21, formerly of Ravenswood, pleaded guilty in Launceston Magistrates Court on Friday to four charges.
They included common assault, breaching a police family violence order, disorderly conduct and resisting a police officer.
Her first offending occurred on August 27, 2020, at the Campbell Town residence she shared with her then-partner.
The court heard the pair had been arguing throughout the day before, about 3pm in their laundry, Kent “grabbed the complainant around the neck with her right hand and choked him for several seconds before letting go”.
She left scratch marks on the man’s neck, the court was told.
On January 30 last year, she breached a PFVO by verbally abusing her ex-partner on the phone, calling him names including a “dog”.
Then, on June 4 this year, about 4.30am at Trethewie St, Ravenswood, Kent was given a move-on direction by Tasmania Police officers.
She complied, but the officers heard her “screaming and yelling” on nearby Prossers Forest Rd.
They followed and asked her to stop, then advised she was under arrest when she failed to do so.
She was “directed to put her hands behind her back” but failed to do so, leading her to be “taken to ground,” the court was told.
Kent continued to resist, in the process kicking a constable to the side of his face, leaving a “slight graze”.
Kent told the court she was so intoxicated she couldn’t remember the episode.
A charge of assaulting a police officer was discontinued by the prosecution.
The court heard Kent had turned her life around in the last four months: she moved to Beaconsfield to detach herself from negative influences, began attending parenting classes for her two-year-old son, and obtained her learner’s licence.
She told the court she only consumed a small amount of alcohol these days and not to excess.
Magistrate Ken Stanton convicted her, fined her $500, and ordered she pay costs and levies of approximately $250.
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