Clip captures mum’s assault
Footage has emerged of a violent assault by an angry mother on a teenage girl who she believed had been bullying her daughter. The footage shows Nicola-Jane Jenks repeatedly slapping the victim and screaming obscenities, including calling the girl a “bitch” and “slut” and telling her: “If you come near [my daughter] or me I will bash you into the middle of next week.”
Yesterday the victim’s mother spoke out about the incident, saying she is “disgusted” the attacker was not convicted for her “nasty” offending.
In May Jenks, 50, lashed out and assaulted a teenager, grabbing her by the hair and hitting her repeatedly in the face.
She told the court she assaulted the girl because the teen had been bullying her daughter for two years.
The assault happened near Mount Albert Grammar School shortly after the girls had left for the day.
Jenks later pleaded guilty to a charge of common assault and was sentenced last week.
Judge Tony Fitzgerald granted her a discharge without conviction, saying she had made a “bad decision” which should not impact on the rest of her life.
Judge Fitzgerald accepted Jenks’ explanation that her daughter had been bullied and had suffered mentally and physically, but reprimanded Jenks for her behaviour.
“You are 50 years old and you should have handled it a lot better than you did,” he said.
After sentencing the victim’s mother sent footage of the attack to the Herald.
“She was absolutely enraged, she was so angry,” the victim’s mother said of the attack. “It’s not okay for a 50-year-old woman to hit a child, especially around the head.
“[I thought] justice would be done — but now I just feel disheartened.”
The video was also given to police and provided to the court.
The victim’s mother told the Herald that she rejected Jenks’ claims of bullying.
She said she believed it was “totally the opposite” and claimed her daughter was the one who had been picked on.
The mother, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said the sentence was “disgusting” and she felt she had been let down by the judge and police.
“What message is that sending? I feel she got off too lightly,” she said.
“She should be ashamed. My daughter did not deserve that [assault].”
The day of the assault another mother rang her to say she’d heard her daughter was being beaten up.
“I thought, ‘Oh my God’ and I raced down to the school,” she recalled. “I got there and found out it was someone’s mother.
“[My daughter] filmed it herself . . . When I saw it I just felt sick,” she said.
The mother decided to speak out because she felt like justice had not been served.
After her first court appearance Jenks told the Herald she regretted her actions.
She refused to speak further but through her lawyer, David Hoskin, maintained her daughter had been bullied by the victim.
Hoskin said Jenks had provided evidence of this — including other video footage — and that had been accepted by the court.
“The matter has been dealt with by the court,” he said.
“By her guilty plea, my client accepted she assaulted the victim.
“It may be that the victim’s mother is not fully aware of the background to this matter, and of her daughter’s behaviour.”
Police said they were satisfied with the handling of the case and would not appeal the sentence.
“Police carried out a thorough investigation into this matter,” said Senior Sergeant Martin Cahill.
“Police [opposed] the application for discharge without conviction in relation to this case however police respect the decision of the court.”