Wellington Hotel glassing attacker spared prison
A 27-year-old mother of three who assaulted another woman with a pint glass has been sentenced to home detention.
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A mother of three responsible for a “vicious and unprovoked” glassing attack at the Wellington Hotel has been spared a jail sentence.
Morgan Mary Morris-Eyles was at an engagement party at the hotel on April 8, 2022 when she struck her brother’s partner in the neck, twice, with a pint glass.
The sudden attack came after the victim objected to a remark Morris-Eyles had made about her own child, the District Court heard.
It left the victim with facial scarring and ongoing anxiety, and the fallout from the incident left the victim and her partner estranged from the rest of the family.
Morris-Eyles was charged with aggravated causing harm, with intent to harm, after turning herself in to police a month later.
In court last Wednesday, Judge Joana Fuller described the attack as “vicious and unprovoked”.
However, she took mercy on Morris-Eyles due to the effect any jail term would have on her children, including a son who was on the autism spectrum and required close support.
She ordered Morris-Eyles to serve three years on home detention, with a non-parole period of 18 months; to wear an electronic tracker at all times; and to abstain from alcohol and other drugs.
Judge Fuller accepted that Morris-Eyles had endured a lot in her 27 years.
The night of the attack had been her first night out without her children in two years, and she had been alcohol-free for four months beforehand.
“You have little memory of the events of the evening,” Judge Fuller told the court.
“However, upon seeing the (CCTV) footage you became very distressed and … you were visibly upset and ashamed.”
Ultimately, she said, while the offence had been a serious one, Morris-Eyles was a loving mother who had spent the past two years doing everything she could to rehabilitate herself.
“You are genuine in your commitment to beating your alcohol addiction and to being a contributing member of the community and a good mother to your children,” the judge said.
