Woman headbutts laundromat owner

A YOUNG Northern Rivers woman who assaulted an elderly laundromat owner after believing her clothes had been stolen has been jailed.

Samantha Anthony, 25, tearfully appeared before Tweed Heads Local Court on September 19, charged with assault occasioning bodily harm after she headbutted the laundromat owner.

Court documents state that Anthony went into the Tweed Heads Laundromat on Wharf Street with the victim noticing she didn’t have any washing to do. The victim approached Anthony, who accused the laundromat of stealing her clothes a week prior, when Anthony had washed her clothes and left them in the machine for five hours.

The victim explained that she had moved the clothes as she wanted them out of the washing machine so someone else could use it.

Anthony became abusive and headbutted the victim twice and said she would be back for her property.

The victim was pushed back into a vending machine and suffered bruising to her nose, her forehead was red above her eye, and her nose was sore for a few days after the assault.

A warrant was issued for Anthony’s arrest and she was taken into custody on September 14 after police were patrolling Bay Street in Tweed Heads.

Tweed Heads Local Court heard Anthony’s tearful plea to seek a non-custodial sentence due to her grandmother’s poor health.

Magistrate Geoff Dunlevy said Anthony headbutting someone was an aggravating factor on the sentence.

“This matter occurred at a very difficult time of your life with your grandmother’s health,” Mr Dunlevy said.

He convicted Anthony and sentenced her to 12 months’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of three months.