Bonika Jones: Launceston woman guilty of five separate assaults

A young Tasmanian woman committed five separate assaults while engaged in a crime spree which saw cars and booze stolen and cops repeatedly resisted and verbally abused.

A young Launceston woman assaulted an acquaintance, a stranger, two police officers and a prison officers, who was bitten when they attempted to fish two clipseal bags of cannabis from the defendant’s mouth, a court has heard.

Waverley woman Bonika Jessie Rossalyn Anne Jayne Jones, 20, previously pleaded guilty to dozens of offences and pleaded guilty to more in Launceston Magistrates Court on Monday, taking the total to 23.

Most seriously, they included two charges each of common assault and assaulting a police officer, and one each of assaulting a public officer and stealing a motor vehicle.

There were also multiple charges of breaching bail, failing to appear as per an undertaking, stealing, unlawfully bringing cannabis into prison, using abusive language towards and resisting police officers among other offending.

Breaking News Breaking News Waverley woman Bonika Jessie Rossalyn Anne Jayne Jones, 20. Picture: Facebook

The court heard most of the offending occurred between December 2020 and December 2021.

On December 5, 2020 about 8.45pm, Jones and a 17-year-old male friend were walking in Mowbray when the teen began kicking at a vehicle.

The 35-year-old owner came out to remonstrate with the pair, at which point the teen grabbed the man’s shirt while Jones punched him once to the face.

Jones tried to punch the man a second time, the court heard.

On December 14, 2020, near the Aussie Convenience store in the Brisbane St mall, Jones, alleging an unpaid debt, stole a pouch of tobacco from an acquaintance, knocked her phone from her hand, cracking its screen, and slapped the victim in the face, knocking her glasses to the ground.

On September 30 last year at about 6.15pm, police were called to a disturbance at New St, Invermay.

Discovering Jones there, officers informed her she was wanted for breaching her bail, at which point she became “angry and defensive” and was arrested.

Jones resisted her arrest, forcing officers to “take her to ground”.

During the melee, Jones dug her hand and fingernails into the hand of an officer trying to handcuff her, leading to “swelling and bruising”, the court heard.

Due to her level of intoxication, Jones was taken straight to a remand centre, where she bit the finger of a watch-house officer who was attempting to remove two clipseal bags of cannabis from inside her mouth.

Jones then further assaulted a police officer who was attempting to place the defendant in her cell.

She also stole a vehicle from Invermay Rd, Mowbray on April 30 last year and booze from Dan Murphy’s Launceston on December 5 last year.

Jones also repeatedly called police officers “c*****” and told them to “f*** off”, the court heard.

Jones’ sentence was adjourned until July 1 to enable her to comply with a pre-existing Community Correction Order, with the court hearing Jones was responding positively to the order following a period of homelessness.