Back in late February we posted a video showing a flat-out disgusting, disturbing act of racially-charged violence in which two young Gold Coast women verbally and physically assaulted an elderly, blind, Indigenous man over the grievous misdoing of being on a bus.
Late yesterday, one of those two women walked absolutely free from court.
Larna Watmough – 21 years old – was charged with seriously assaulting the (again, blind) man Paul Buttigieg – 77 years old.
The assault was captured on video by a thirteen-year-old girl carrying a smartphone, despite the incident causing fear and intimidation amongst other passengers. The pair of women appeared to be intoxicated and hurled a torrent of racial abuse whilst physically punching and kicking the elderly blind man, before passengers eventually intervened and the pair was ejected from the bus.
Watmough pleaded guilty to the charges and was handed a two month sentence that was wholly suspended. She was also ordered to pay $500 in compensation, and placed on 12 months probation. She then walked out of the courtroom and back into everyday life.
Magistrate Gary Finger lambasted Watmough, stating “You attacked a defenceless old man with impaired vision … you certainly must be proud of yourself. Your response to his comment can only be described as appalling. Your actions were deplorable. To say they were deplorable is an understatement.”
Watmough’s defence laywer stated that she had suffered “extensive scrutiny” in the media, received death threats, and had even had job interviews cancelled when employers realised who she was.
Her defence stated she had no prior history of violence.
With that in mind, it’s probably totally unrelated that her co-accused in this case, 17 year old Layni Cameron, currently remains in custody on unrelated drug and robbery charges. Her plea hearing has been adjourned to a later date.
The video of the incident is embedded below. Be warned that it contains very graphic and disturbing content. Many trigger warnings abound.
via 9News.
