By Andrew Starke
The Australian Hotels Association (AHA) in Western Australia has welcomed the custodial sentence handed down yesterday (Apr 15) to a woman who smashed a glass in the face of another woman in a nightclub last year.
Eva Grace Scolaro, a Perth model, was sentenced to 18 months jail for smashing a glass in the face of another woman at The Library, a Northbridge nightclub, in March 2009.
AHA (WA) CEO, Bradley Woods, said the jail sentence delivered by Magistrate Paul Heaney sent a strong message to the community that such antisocial acts of violence committed in licensed venues are totally unacceptable.
“People who feel they have the right to inflict hideous injury on other patrons are not welcome in the hotels and taverns of WA and should face significant consequences for their actions,” he said.
“Using a glass as a weapon is a grotesque act of violence that has serious physical and psychological repercussions for victims.
“The thugs who commit such offences, regardless of their gender, race or age, are placing the future of good licensees at risk and are trying to impose a culture of abuse, confrontation and fear amongst people who have the right to go out and enjoy themselves responsibly.”
Woods congratulated the judiciary for taking such a strong stance and said this case and subsequent prison term should set a precedent for all future cases involving similar attacks.
He also called on the Director of Liquor Licensing to revisit his decision to impose a prohibition on Eva Grace Scolaro in light of the sentence handed down by Magistrate Heany to ensure that her two-year ban from licensed venues in WA takes effect on her release from jail.
“We have to be very careful that prohibition orders are not watered down by having them run concurrent to custodial sentences,” Woods said.
“In theory, every prisoner in WA’s prison system is subject to a ban from licensed venues purely because they are locked up.
“Prohibition orders are the strongest tool the Police and the industry have in dealing with anti-social patrons and they should served additionally to any custodial sentence imposed by the courts.”
Legal representatives for Scolara immediately lodged an appeal against the judgment and she was granted bail of $10,000 pending the outcome of the case.
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