A 33-year-old woman who racially abused and attacked an Asian woman in a supermarket was sentenced in the Launceston Magistrates Court to five months jail.
The sentence for Kellie Ann Tegg, of no fixed address, also covered numerous other offences including assaulting and threatening police, destroying and injuring property and disorderly conduct in Hobart Ulverstone and Launceston over six months last year.
The court heard that Tegg was in a Hobart supermarket when she called an 18-year-old woman a "dirty Asian bitch" on June 29, 2020.
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The victim responded by telling Tegg to f... off and putting her middle finger up.
Tegg charged at her and punched her to the head and rammed her into vegetable shelves.
After being pulled away she then attacked the victim a second time.
Tegg told police in an interview that she said she had been drinking homebrew whisky throughout the day.
Magistrate Simon Brown said the supermarket attack was utterly unwarranted and represented appalling behaviour with a racial element to it.
He said the offences generally were serious and would have been frightening and distressing for the victims.
Mr Brown said that a prison sentence was the only option although prison had not deterred Tegg in 2017 when she served a previous sentence. She had significant prior convictions stretching back 14 years.
He said that he accepted that Tegg had a sad and disadvantaged history with a history of abusive relationships and alcohol abuse.
Tegg was remanded in custody in November after assaulting, threatening and resisting police in Mowbray.
Mr Brown backdated the sentence to November 2020.
Nick Clark
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for the Examiner for the past 18 months. My journalism career has clicked over 30 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for the Examiner for the past 18 months. My journalism career has clicked over 30 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
