Woman assaults police

AN EXPECTANT mother has been told a small North Queensland town was not “working for you” when she pleaded guilty to a string of charges spanning over a month.

Bakoi Shirley Bero was heard to have moved to Ingham with a partner just prior to offending, leaving her support network and home town of Ayr.

It was during that time that

Bero obstructed Senior Sergeant David Hunter and committed a public nuisance offence on February 6, and assaulted police officers Constable Ian Russell and

Constable Andrew

February 15.

She pleaded guilty to six charges including two counts of assaulting a police officer, stealing and obstructing a police officer when she appeared in Ayr Magistrates Court.

On January 28, Bero was heard to have stolen $15 worth of consumable goods from Woolworths in Castletown in a crime Acting Magistrate Scott Luxton said could be seen as a matter of need not greed.

Miles on

The court heard Bero was in the company of her former partner who fled the scene while she remained.

Police Prosecutor Cody Rowe said Bero’s behaviour had escalated particularly between February 6 and 15 resulting in the assault of the two officers.

Acting Magistrate Luxton said police had observed dried blood under Bero’s nose on February 15 when she struck a police officer in the arm.

“You were clearly in a situation of difficulty at that time in terms of the level of your intoxication and it seems you had been the victim of some violent act at that time,” he said.

“You are very fortunate that no significant injury was suffered by the officer as it would have been a far more serious charge. Striking a police officer in any circumstance is a serious matter.”

Having appeared with no criminal history and no further offending since returning to Ayr, Acting Magistrate Luxton said the offending was “out of character” for Bero.

“It does seem that you were living in Ingham at the time and that clearly was not a place that was working for you,” he said.

“It seems coming back to Ayr has been a positive in terms of this sort of behaviour ceasing.”

Bero was fined a total of $1500 for all offences and ordered to pay $15 restitution to Woolworths Castletown. No convictions were recorded.