A 30-year-old woman who invited a man to her North Ballarat house so her boyfriend could bash him before she mopped up his blood with a towel has been placed on a court order.
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The 42-year-old victim left Shannon Jeffrey's house and collapsed in the street after he was repeatedly bashed on December 21, 2015.
He received serious facial injuries and was transported to a Melbourne hospital with a fractured nose, ruptured eye socket, lacerations and bruising.
Jeffrey's boyfriend at the time, Heath Shepherd and three unknown men, carried out the bashing after Shepherd became enraged when he found out Jeffrey had put her hand in the victim's bag which contained used syringes.
Jeffrey and Shepherd were using ice at the time.
Jeffrey was convicted and sentenced to a two-year community corrections order at the County Court in Ballarat on Friday.
Judge Michael Bourke told Jeffrey the consequences for the victim met the definition of serious injury.
"This was serious offending which resulted in quite dire consequences for the victim," the judge said.
He said the major factor why he placed Jeffrey on a CCO was the case had been delayed for more than three years.
The principal offender, Shepherd, 39, was involved in a 2015-2016 murder investigation and he died in a car accident in January 2018.
The court was told while Jeffrey's case was put on hold, she reoffended and was sentenced to jail.
Jeffrey pleaded not guilty to intentionally causing injury over the bashing at a contested committal hearing in February.
Her case was listed for trial on March 7 but she asked for a sentence indication, which she accepted. She then pleaded guilty to the offence the next day.
Judge Bourke said Jeffrey had family support, had a desire to raise her two children and took into account the impact of her relationship with Shepherd, who was a violent man.
But the judge said he was not convinced Jeffrey had completed a successful drug rehabilitation.
He said he was prepared to give her a chance on the CCO, which includes 200 hours of unpaid community work, supervision, judicial monitoring and drug treatment and rehabilitation.
Jeffrey was remanded in custody until May when she will return to court on dishonesty offences.
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