A woman who assaulted a nurse at Canberra Hospital, spat on a police officer, and hit another constable in the face has been jailed for nine months.
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The woman, 31, was a voluntary patient of Canberra Hospital's high dependency mental health unit between September 21 and 25, 2018.
The ACT Magistrates Court heard a mental health nurse was trying to assist her when she assaulted her on two separate occasions. In one instance, the woman grabbed the nurse, pulled at her necklace, kicked her in the stomach and thigh and bit her on the arm.
She also spat at the nurse and broke two pairs of her glasses.
On March 8, 2019, police attended the woman's home for a welfare check, where she spat on one officer. Later, on October 3, 2019, they received reports she was walking around Gilmore with a knife.
Officers attended her home where the woman spotted them and shouted out of a window: "You come any closer and you're dead."
She later slammed the window shut, before smashing it with a baseball bat and sending glass flying in the direction of police officers.
The woman walked outside towards the officers while swinging the bat, and struck her letter box with it. She was directed to drop it, and eventually did, but refused to lay on the ground, telling police: "Taser me c---."
When they tried to restrain her, the woman hit one of the officers in the face. Court documents said the officer's eye was bruised and swollen afterwards.
In court, the woman pleaded guilty to four counts of common assault, two counts of destroying or damaging property, two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, resisting a territory public official, and possessing an offensive weapon.
Her nine-month prison sentence was suspended from December 23. The woman has already served 72 days in prison in two separate stints since being arrested in October last year.
In sentencing, Special Magistrate Theresa Warwick noted the woman's drug dependence and bipolar disorder. She described the spitting offences as "disgusting", and said both the officer and the nurse would have needed testing for diseases.
Ms Warwick said it was up to the woman to take responsibility for her actions. The woman would have to comply with a good behaviour order from the end of her sentence on May 24.
