A Ballarat mother of seven who bit a police officer several times, keyed a family’s car and then attacked a child who tried to stop her, will remain in prison for the next 17 months.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Kiki Harris, 37, appeared in the Ballarat Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday charged with a range of offences, including assault of a person aged under 15 years, and property damage.
The court heard that on 17 June 2017, at 2.15pm, a man was driving through the Stocklands Shopping Centre car park with his 11-year-old daughter and two others, when the accused began screaming at him.
The man parked his car and went into Stocklands to speak to security, leaving the three girls in the car.
The accused then used her keys to scratch the car from the driver’s door to the back of the vehicle.
The daughter got out of the car and told the accused to stop scratching the car but Harris “turned and smiled” and kept scratching the car.
After the girl again asked her to stop scratching the car, Harris hit the girl in the face more five or six times.
This behaviour is completely and utterly condemned by the court.
- Magistrate Mark Stratmann
The accused was also charged with multiple assault offences, including serious assault on police and assault with a weapon after she attacked police officers during an incident on 21 February 2018.
Police were called to a dispute near the accused’s residence at 8.30pm, where it was alleged the accused’s partner had made threats to kill and had smashed windows.
During the subsequent arrest of Harris and her co-accused Paul Tierney, the court heard both appeared alcohol and drug affected and were aggressive and verbally abusive.
Harris told police to “get off my f...ing property” and tried to stop Tierney’s arrest, hitting one police officer with a two-metre wooden post and then biting another officer several times on the arm, puncturing the skin.
Lawyer David Tamanika said Harris has seven children, aged from 12 months through to 17 years, and that her anti-social behavior was undoubtedly linked to her history of violence and trauma.
He said she had already served 145 days in custody and “her focus was now on re-regulating and rehabilitation.”
Magistrate Stratmann requested Harris be assessed for a Community Corrections Order (CCO).
He then said, after “taking everything into account,’ including the victim impact statements, “this is serious offending. A CCO is not appropriate for this situation.”
He said Harris’ assault on police officers and a child was “completely and utterly condemned by the court.”
“You are an adult and you completely lost control. It caused injury and no doubt the young person is at reasonable risk of trauma,” Magistrate Stratmann said.
Harris was sentenced to a cumulative jail term of 17 months, with a non-parole period of 13 months and was ordered to pay compensation for property damage.
