A WOMAN who glassed a man with an empty champagne flute has narrowly avoided jail.
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The Bendigo Magistrates Court heard mother-of-two Jade Norton was drinking at the All Seasons Hotel on September 21 last year when a fight broke out.
Prosecutor Leading Senior Constable Chris Jones said it was not known why the fight broke out, but said Norton had glassed a man who received serious lacerations.
He said the man had required seven to eight stiches in hospital.
“The explanation given was ‘I was trying to get him off me’,” Leading Senior Constable Jones said.
Magistrate Ian Von Einem asked if there was any evidence of the victim being on top of Norton, to which the prosecutor replied “not that I’ve seen”.
Luke Docherty, acting in defence, said his 21-year-old client had felt threatened prior to the glassing.
He said the victim had already sustained cuts to his face when Norton went to see if she could help.
“Her instructions were he pushed her and said ‘what are you going to do about it?’,” Mr Docherty said.
“Her instructions were she felt threatened, the male was holding her and wouldn’t let go.”
The magistrate asked if her actions had been excessive.
“In my view these events are all too common and deterrence is one of the things that comes to the fore in sentencing for these matters,” Mr Von Einem said.
Leading Senior Constable Jones argued for Norton to be imprisoned, and said “effectively, glassing equals jail”.
He questioned why Norton was not charged with more serious offences given the nature of the injuries.
The magistrate viewed a photo of the victim.
“Now that I’ve seen it, I’m somewhat concerned about it.”
He said a community corrections order would be considered “as a last resort to avoid jail”. Mr Von Einem said Norton had narrowly avoided imprisonment and ordered her to undertake a community corrections order.
