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Spent conviction for teen in ‘horrifying’ attack on woman in Mandurah train

Rachel FennerMandurah Coastal Times

A MANDURAH magistrate has described the assault of a woman on a train who refused to go home with a teenager, as horrifying.

The court heard that Kyle Robert Hill approached the woman, who was waiting for a train, at the Mandurah station after 11pm on May 3.

Hill followed the woman into the train and who sat down next to her.

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The woman told Hill she was going home to which he reacted with an uppercut to the side of her jaw.

The victim sat stunned by the blow.

Police arrested Hill while waiting at another station in relation to a different matter.

Hill told them that he thought he and the woman “were going to hang out and do stuff”.

He pleaded guilty to a charge of common assault at the earliest opportunity.

The court appointed lawyer said Hill and the woman had gone into the toilet together to “indulge in illicit substances” before the assault and talked about “hooking up”.

She said her client struggles to remember the assault due to a mix of alcohol and the illicit substances.

These substances were also said to have caused him to “freak out and act out of character”.

Counsel applied for a spent conviction for Hill – who had no previous criminal record and was planning on a career as a security officer.

Magistrate Anne Longden said there was “something fairly horrifying” about the offence.

She said Hill had assaulted a person practically unknown to him due to something in his mind.

Magistrate Longden accepted Hill was remorseful however.

“It is concerning this happened out of the blue and happened after consuming some kind of drug,” she said.

She placed him on a six-onth community based order and directed Hill to complete 40 hours of community work.

Magistrate Longden believed that Hill would not commit an offence of this nature again.

“It’s a borderline case for it, but I am willing to grant a spent conviction,” she said.

Hill will not have a conviction recorded for this offence.

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