Tamara Jane Drake pleads guilty to assault in Empire Hotel at Queenstown

A mother of three overhead a visitor making derogatory remarks about Queenstown, so launched an attack on the woman, pulling her off her bar stool and punching her 15 times. DETAILS >>

The Empire Hotel at Queenstown. Picture: MATHEW FARRELL

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A WOMAN who repeatedly punched a visitor to Queenstown because she “slagged off” her home town and its inhabitants while sitting at the bar of a local watering hole will be sentenced in September.

Tamara Jane Drake, a single mother of three, overhead the visitor making the derogatory remarks about her home town while she was on the phone.

The victim was staying at the Empire Hotel for work purposes in October last year and had gone down to the public bar for a drink.

After overhearing the conversation, Drake struck up a conversation with the Devonport woman.

The conversation became animated before Drake pushed the other woman off her bar stool, held her down on the floor and struck her 15 times to the face.

Drake was pulled off her victim by other bar patrons. Drake then poured her victim’s drink into her own and consumed it.

The victim ended up with a broken nose and needed surgery in the Royal Hobart Hospital.

Drake, who pleaded guilty to a charge of assault in the Burnie Supreme Court on Wednesday, was identified by a staff member when Tasmanian Police and paramedics arrived.

She was later interviewed by police.

“Was it okay to sit in a small town bar and slag off about the place?” Drake asked police in her interview.

“If you have a big mouth you need to back it up.”

Drake’s lawyer Stephen Wright told Justice Robert Pearce his client had broken up with her boyfriend at the time of the attack.

“She was not in a good place at the time,” Mr Wright told the court.

“She overheard negative comments about Queenstown and the people that live there. She is now embarrassed by her actions and worried about how she will care for her kids if she loses her liberty.”

Justice Pearce adjourned the case to assess Drake’s suitability for a home detention order.

She will be sentenced on September 2.