A 36-year-old woman who was knocked unconscious and suffered serious head injuries after a coward punch attack yesterday outside a Mount Isa pub is in stable condition in hospital, according to the latest reports.
The 36-year-old woman injured in the attack has been identified as Melissa Abdoo, a mother of two from the Happy Valley area, and a duty manager at The Bluffs.
Reports indicate that, at around midnight on Friday, Abdoo refused entry to her attacker, a 28-year-old man who appeared intoxicated, and suggested that he instead get a cab home.
CCTV footage shows her speaking to a woman understood to be the assailant’s partner in the moments before he approached her and threw a punch, knocking her to the ground.
A Queensland Police spokesman said of the attack:
“The male person has struck her from behind to her face and chest which resulted in her head making contact with ground.”
Abdoo was airlifted from Mount Isa to Townsville yesterday afternoon by the Royal Flying Doctors Service. Her current condition is understood to be stable.
The man fled the scene, but was apprehended around an hour later; he will appear in Mount Isa Magistrates Court tomorrow, charged with grievous bodily harm.
Bluffs manager Karen Graham expressed her dismay, and that of Abdoo’s fellow staff, saying:
“We’re all devastated. Completely devastated. This is one of our family. She is a great person she is a great mum and she just doesn’t deserve this, nobody deserves this.”
