Tattooing 13-y-o girl brings fine

A TOOWOOMBA woman who tattooed a love heart on her daughter’s 13-year-old friend has ended up before the city’s Magistrates Court where she copped a conviction and a fine.

The woman, who is not named to protect the identity of the children concerned, was not a licensed tattoo artist but it was known among her friends and associates that she applied the body ink, the court heard.

However, when her daughter and a 13-year-old classmate arrived at their Harristown home on November 24, last year, she had agreed to give the girls a small 1cm “love heart” on their stomach area.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Tim Hutton told the court when the 13-year-old got home and showed her mother the tattoo, her mother had contacted police, telling officers she had not given permission for her daughter to be tattooed.

The maximum penalty for the offence was 40 penalty units ($5222 fine) or six months in jail, Sgt Hutton said.

The 41-year-old woman pleaded guilty to tattooing a minor without permission.

Her solicitor Brad Skuse, of David Burns Lawyers, said his client’s daughter was a friend of the 13-year-old child and that his client knew the child’s mother.

His client had asked the child if she had her mother’s permission and the girl had said “yes”, but she admitted she hadn’t followed up with the girl’s mother.

His client was not a licensed tattooist but did tattoos as a hobby, Mr Skuse submitted.

Accepting it was a relatively small tattoo, Acting Magistrate Rob Turra convicted and fined the woman $500.