A Perth court has heard how a woman’s mental impairment combined with a childhood filled with neglect, instability and abuse contributed to two incidents of assault that a magistrate has described as “disturbing”.
Pamela-Raye Jetta, 21, sat quietly in a frilly pink dress behind the glass at Perth Magistrates Court on Thursday as prosecutors told how in two separate incidents last year, she assaulted both a two-year-old baby and an 80-year-old woman.
The assault happened in Victoria Park.Credit:
In the first, Jetta had been on a bus in South Perth with two male friends when she flew into a “rage” and began gesticulating wildly with her hands before sitting down next to an elderly lady she did not know. For reasons unknown, Jetta struck the woman across the face, possibly twice, before the woman said, “You hit me”.
“No I didn’t,” the court was told Jetta responded, before allowing the woman to get up and move to another seat.
Four and a half months later, Jetta was at Park Centre, a shopping centre in Victoria Park when she randomly hit a two-year-old girl in the face, who was being carried by her mother.
Defence lawyer Clare Brennan told the court that her client’s actions were “unacceptable” but explained the “context” of her offending, saying that her background had been marred by trauma.
“She has had a tragic life with those people who were supposed to have loved and cared for her,” Brennan said.
“She has a long history with child protection that began when she was two years old. She has spent her life as a child in care and been exposed to violence.”
Brennan told the court Jetta had four different foster placements before she turned 14, some with family members and some in group care home situations.
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