Violent spitter in court

A PREGNANT woman who grabbed a mental health nurse by the throat and spat in her mouth in an argument over a dog and fence has been placed on probation for two years.

Ashleigh Josephine Lucas, 22, pleaded guilty in the Southport Magistrates Court yesterday to assault occasioning bodily harm and two counts of breaching bail.

The court heard Lucas and a neighbour argued on January 5, 2016, about a dog that was getting under the fence and into Lucas’s back yard at Carrara.

Police prosecutor Senior Constable Jack Mulherin said Lucas made a number of threats and the neighbour called her mother to pick her up.

When the neighbour’s mother, the nurse, arrived the verbal spat turned ugly.

“The defendant has lunged towards her and grabbed her by the throat,” Sen-Const. Mulherin said.

The nurse used her training to bend back Lucas’s thumb to try to break Lucas’s grip on her throat. The court was told Lucas then pulled the nurse’s head back by the hair and spat in her mouth. The fight continued and the nurse was struck about the face.

Sen-Const. Mulherin said Lucas had failed to report to police – a requirement of her bail conditions – on December 15 last year and January 2.

Defence lawyer Michael McMillan said Lucas, who worked at a charity call centre, had been drinking at the time.

Magistrate Mark Howden sentenced Lucas to two years probation and fined her $300 for breaching bail. No conviction was recorded on the assault but convictions were recorded for breaches of bail.