A magistrate has warned a Dapto woman she could have seriously injured or even killed the victim of her vicious assault at a popular Wollongong nightspot.
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Magistrate Claire Girotto sentenced Hannah Duke, 19, at Wollongong Local Court to an 18-month community corrections order with conviction for assault occasioning actual bodily harm in relation to an attack at Mr Crown in April.
"This is really serious, you could have seriously hurt this woman," Magistrate Girotto said.
"In fact, if you kicked her in the temple, you could have killed her."
Shortly after midnight on April 24 this year, Duke approached the victim upstairs at Mr Crown and ushered her downstairs.
At the bottom of the stairs, she punched the victim to the side of the head, causing her to fall down.
Duke stood over the victim verbally abusing her while she was on the ground, then kicked her to the head and slapped her face while yelling: "Don't ever fucking talk to [name] again".
The victim and her friend left a short time later and spoke to the manager, before police approached and spoke to the victim.
She pointed out Duke, who was standing a short distance away, and officers arrested her.
Duke made some admissions to the offending but refused to go into detail.
At 2.19am Duke sent the victim a message on social media app Instagram that read: "idk why your tryna message [name]. Seriously ? haha".
The victim only knew Duke through Instagram because of mutual friends, and was not 'friends' with her on the app.
As a result of the assault, she suffered lacerations, scratches and bruising.
Defence lawyer Ron Davis told the court that Duke worked in palliative care in aged care, which was a stressful environment, and wanted to become a registered nurse.
Mr Davis told the court that on the night in question Duke had been drinking, a relationship had recently broken down and she had been "threatened" so she "took matters into her own hands", although Magistrate Girotto said it appeared to her that the issue was jealousy.
He said Duke pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.
Magistrate Girotto noted it was Duke's first offence but for this crime its seriousness was high.
"It was an unprovoked incident," she said.
"There may have been something on Instagram, but you need to calm down."
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