Mandurah court
Camera IconMandurah court Credit: Supplied/Jon Hewson

Mandurah Court: woman punched doctor, nurse and kicked police

Staff writerMandurah Coastal Times

A WOMAN who punched a doctor and nurse and kicked police officers was sentenced to eight months imprisonment, suspended for 12 months, when she appeared in Mandurah Magistrates Court on Friday.

Renee Gayle Anderson pleaded guilty to two counts of assaulting a person working in a hospital, two counts of assaulting a public officer and two counts of breaching bail.

Police prosecutor Sean Discombe said Anderson was a patient at Peel Health Campus on June 28, 2016, when she punched a doctor to the chest and grabbed his thumb.

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She was thrashing about and also punched a nurse in the chest, causing her to become winded.

Constable Discombe said police were called to a house in Cooper Street on May 8, 2018, where Anderson was not welcome.

He said Anderson struck walls and kicked out at officers with her legs.

Anderson’s lawyer said she had taken methylamphetamine the night before the hospital incident and had an adverse reaction.

He said Anderson used to work at the hospital, so staff knew her and dealt with her in a curt manner.

Anderson had no recollection of the incident because she was coming down from the drug and accepted the hospital staff’s account of what happened.

The lawyer said Anderson had been asked to leave the granny flat she was renting in May. She was frustrated that everything in her life was going wrong.

Anderson struck out and apologised to police straight away.

Magistrate Anne Longden said Anderson would have been difficult to deal with when she was in a hysterical and distressed state.

“These people were trying to help you,” she said.

Ms Longden said Anderson would continue down this path if her problems with drugs were not addressed.

Anderson was fined $1500.