Woman bashed scammer in public after dud phone sale
Laine Clark |
As shocked bystanders looked on, a woman repeatedly hit an online scammer with a beer bottle on a busy street after he had been lured out by her partner.
CCTV footage captured the moment the woman and her partner attack the man in broad daylight near an inner-Brisbane restaurant after being sold a dud mobile phone.
At one stage the man is knocked into the restaurant’s tables and chairs, with the woman telling onlookers that they will be stabbed if they come closer.
The woman – then 19 – was in urgent need of a phone for work when she bought a mobile on social media in February 2022, Brisbane District Court heard.
However, when the phone arrived it was defective.
Her partner then came up with a plan.
Later that month a meeting with the online scammer was organised by her partner through an associate under the pretence of buying a phone.
When the man arrived her partner threw hand sanitiser in his eye and punched him in the head.
The man fell to the ground and was dragged across the street by the partner before arguing about the faulty phone.
The woman ran over to them holding the empty glass bottle, striking the man in the head.
The man tried to run away but was repeatedly assaulted by the woman with the bottle and her partner as bystanders looked on before being threatened.
The woman and her partner took the man’s phone, watch, car keys and $150 cash during the assault.
They also demanded his credit card and PIN but before they could get to an ATM police arrived.
The man suffered bruising and abrasions to his chest, face and back of his head as well as a cut above the eye.
The partner later told police he had “probably gone too far” during the confrontation.
“You required the phone urgently for work and were scammed by this complainant – of course that doesn’t excuse what happened here,” Judge Paul Smith said.
The woman’s relationship with her partner was abusive prior to the offending, at one stage threatening to slit her throat, with a domestic violence order in place, the court heard.
Judge Smith described her partner as a “bad influence”.
“I have no doubt he influenced you on the day of the offending,” he said.
“I think he was a controlling, abusive person who came up with this plan.
“You didn’t really expect any violence prior to (the attack) … and I think that makes his (partner’s) involvement worse than yours.”
The partner was sentenced to two-and-a-half years’ jail in June.
The woman was sexually abused as a child and had mental health conditions at the time which impacted on her offending, the court heard.
She had no criminal history.
The woman – now 20 – on Friday pleaded guilty to charges including armed robbery in company with personal violence.
She was sentenced to two years in jail with an immediate parole release.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
Lifeline 13 11 14
AAP
