A Fairy Meadow hairdresser who slapped a cop in the face after she was kicked out of a darts tournament for being "highly intoxicated" has walked from court without a conviction.
Sacha Nadine Towers, 47, was one of the 4000 patrons who attended the Win Entertainment Centre on August 11 for the NSW Darts Masters, arriving with friends about 1pm.
Towers came under the notice of security shortly before 10pm due to being highly intoxicated and was asked to leave. She attempted to walk down the stairs to the ground floor, however took hold of the railing and refused to let go.
Tendered court documents state police became involved and removed Towers' hand from the railing, ushering her from the main hall to remove her from the venue.
Towers stopped in the foyer where she was warned if she didn't leave, she would be fined, however she continued to resist.
Outside the venue, Towers slapped a police officer in the face with her right hand, witnessed by security guards. She resisted as she was handcuffed before being escorted into the rear of a police vehicle, where she refused to let go of her handbag straps.
Police eventually wrangled Towers' handbag from her. "The accused was highly intoxicated and belligerent," police facts state.
Towers pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity to assaulting a police officer in execution of their duty. and excluded person failing to leave a premises when required.
The business owner faced Wollongong Local Court on Monday, where her defence lawyer admitted "this clearly should never have happened" and pointed to his client's clean criminal record.
Magistrate Brett Thomas addressed Towers, saying "in terms of the way you carried on, things just got worse and they were never going to improve".
"Whilst I'm not trying to minimise it ... the police officer has probably had to deal with a lot worse than a drunk 47-year-old at the darts," the magistrate added.
He handed Towers a 14-month conditional release order without a conviction, meaning the offences won't show on her record after this period lapses, and ordered her to continue with counselling.
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Grace Crivellaro
Court reporter for the Illawarra Mercury.
Court reporter for the Illawarra Mercury.
