A 22-year-old Mandurah mother has avoided jail after throwing a woman to the ground and kicking her in the face in Smart Street Mall, for speaking to her ex-boyfriend.
Misty Rose Rundell wept in the Mandurah Magistrates Court on Tuesday, before receiving a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for one year, after pleading guilty to the assault.
Police prosecutor Mick Fallows told the court Rundell confronted the victim who was with a group of friends, just after midnight on April 7, 2018.
Senior Constable Fallows said Rundell punched the victim’s face twice. The victim tried to walk away, but Rundell pulled her hair from behind and “threw her to the ground”, kicking her face while she was on the floor.
The victim’s eye swelled and closed over, following the assault.
Senior Constable Fallows said Rundell told police she had committed the assault because she was “intoxicated and very angry”.
Lawyer Tom McCulloch told the court Rundell had little memory of the attack.
Mr McCulloch said Rundell was separated from her boyfriend, the father of her child, at the time. They had since got back together.
He said Rundell’s traumatic childhood, surrounded by violence and substance abuse, was a mitigating factor.
Magistrate Brian Gluestein told the court the attack was “completely unprovoked” and could be categorised as a ‘coward punch’.
Mr Gluestein told Rundell there was “no excuse to drink yourself silly” and the seriousness of the offence called for the prison term.