ACT court sentences former cleaner Lauren Freshwater, 36, to jail after pointing makeshift flamethrower at victims

Lauren Freshwater, 36, appeared via audio-visual link in the ACT Magistrates Court on Friday after pleading guilty to two counts of common assault.

The court heard that Freshwater was with two other women in a unit where an argument led to the offender punching one victim numerous times in the head, leaving her with a swollen upper lip.

The incident in March involved Freshwater grabbing a deodorant can and cigarette lighter and using them as a makeshift flamethrower that she pointed at the other women.

One of the victims left the unit and screamed for help before police arrived.

Freshwater's lawyer, Kat Duffy, on Friday said that while "there is no escaping the gravity of the objective seriousness of the conduct", her client should be handed a suspended jail term.

Ms Duffy said her client, who worked as a cleaner before COVID impacted her employment, had been battling with severe drug and alcohol issues since her teenage years.

Ms Duffy said treatment in the community for those issues, as well as untreated schizophrenia and psychosis disorder, would be the best way to reduce her client's risk of recidivism.

The defence lawyer said Freshwater's "criminal history is undoubtedly chequered", but when viewed in the context of substance use and mental health issues, it was evident that only intensive rehabilitation could address "this pattern of criminality".

Prosecutor Verity Griffin cited Freshwater's extensive criminal history, including numerous records for violence between 2008 and 2020.

"What can be gleaned from the criminal history is that this is not an uncharacteristic aberration," Ms Griffin said.

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The prosecutor said repeated offending meant the defendant loses the court's confidence and leniency.

Magistrate James Stewart said Freshwater had an "extraordinary history" of violence and described the flamethrower as "quite disturbing" and "terribly frightening".

"Ms Freshwater's offending is now at a point where the community requires protection," Mr Stewart said.

He said there was a call to deter the community from similar offending and to deter Freshwater herself.

"A direct message to Ms Freshwater to stop assaulting people or you're just going to spend the rest of your life in jail. It's a pretty simple message," Mr Stewart said.

He said he was sceptical about Freshwater's psychiatric matters "because there's absolutely nothing before me other than submissions from the bar table".

Mr Stewart also described Freshwater as being "the most successful appellant I've think I've seen in my career" following his review of her criminal history and some of her NSW sentences being reduced upon appeal.

"But it appears to have done no good," he said.

Freshwater was sentenced to 4.5 months' jail, backdated to March, for one of the offences. She will be released on July 19.

She was handed a 12-month good behaviour order for the second assault.

During one of Freshwater's previous court appearances, a prosecutor opposed bail and said it was difficult to see what bail conditions would deter her from going against conditions because she was "undeterred by death itself".

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