Conditional release order for 21-year-old who punched her partner

The 21-year-old farm hand pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm (domestic violence-related) on February 8.

During her arrest, police said the woman admitted to punching her ex.

"She was dancing with a guy, I'd had a bit to drink and hit her," she said when police asked about her motive.

According to court documents, the couple had been together for four years and were living together at the time of the offence.

The assault took place on February 4, about 12.50am, when the victim and her coworkers were celebrating her late birthday at the Pastoral Hotel on Talbragar Street.

CCTV footage showed they were on the dance floor dancing in front of the DJ booth.

The offender arrived a short time later, waded through the crowd and approached the victim. She punched the right side of her face, knocking the victim to the ground.

The assault caused "slight bruising" and a small laceration to the right of the victim's lips. Immediately, a security guard escorted the offender out of the premises.

Police said the victim stood up and was being consoled by her friends. They asked her to remain inside until the woman had left as the victim tried to follow her out the door.

Half an hour later, the victim and witnesses went to the doors and saw the woman waiting outside for her. The victim and the offender proceeded to have a verbal argument.

Both parties could not recall what was said but stated it was something to do with the victim dancing with a colleague. The couple went their separate ways after the argument.

The court heard, the offender messaged the victim a photo of a notice of disposal receipt at about 2.15 am. The woman had changed the registration of the couple's vehicle to her name, instead of the victim's, as she had paid the loan for it.

The woman sent another text saying "pls don't tell her I hit u its the worst mistake I've ever done" referring to the victim telling her mother about the assault.

The next text read "blame [colleague's name] for the smack in the mouth". Police said the woman believed the victim was cheating on her with him.

About 9am the same day, the victim was home when a housemate told her that the offender had come earlier and taken away their dogs from the property. The woman had taken a golden kelpie and its two offspring.

The victim then recived a text from the offender saying "guess you don't want ur dogs back". Police said she was using the dogs as leverage to obtain the vehicle from the victim and meet up with her.

The victim called police and reported both incidents.

Officers arrived at 11.45am, they got evidence from the victim, took photos of her injuries and the texts exchanged with the offender.

About an hour later, the woman came to the victim's residence accompanied by a friend in a white vehicle with the dogs in the back.

Police subsequently arrested the woman for the assault and took the three dogs back to the victim.

While seated in the caged police vehicle, the offender asked officers if the victim was okay and admitted to hitting her.

Police said the victim was upset and had a busted lip and bruised face from the assault. They also asked the offender if she had transferred the car to her name in the morning.

"No not this morning, last night, when I was drunk," the woman said. "Loan is in my name so if i have to pay for it, I want it. She can have it if she puts the loan in her name. I don't want to pay for a loan that I don't get the car for."

In court, defence solicitor Zoe Huijer said her client was relocating to Western Australia that week and there would be no risk of ongoing contact with the victim. The woman submitted a self-written letter and consented to a two-year apprehended domestic violence order put in place by the court.

Taking into account the remorse the 21-year-old had shown and her early plea of guilty, magistrate Gary Wilson sentenced her without a conviction.