Felicity Caldwell | 12th August 2010
A FRUSTRATED renter took her anger out on a real estate agent in a bizarre attack after claiming her property had no drinking water.
Kerry Lynn Kirkpatrick went to Ray White Yamanto on June 30 with a black permanent marker. Ipswich Magistrates Court heard Kirkpatrick wrote obscenities and scribbled over the faces of people depicted in a billboard outside the business. Prosecutor Acting Senior Constable Jo Colston said the 41-year-old denied damaging the sign when confronted by staff and then got in her car and reversed, almost hitting senior property manager Phil Radley who had to jump out of the way. Mr Radley was trying to get Kirkpatrick’s car registration when she got out and began punching and kicking at him before driving away.
Kirkpatrick pleaded guilty to wilful damage and common assault. She was fined $500. Kirkpatrick, a single mother, told the court the home she had been renting for two years was not suitable and she had five children.
“These people presented the property to me without any drinking water,” Kirkpatrick said. Magistrate Matthew McLaughlin asked why Kirkpatrick did not approach the Residential Tenancies Authority (RTA) with her concerns. “You can’t just take the law into your own hands,” Mr McLaughlin said. Kirkpatrick replied that she had no luck with the RTA, could not manage to move by herself and wanted to take the real estate agency to court. But she said Ray White no longer managed the property and the owner, who she also could not deal with, had taken over.
The court heard Kirkpatrick pleaded guilty to a charge of assault occasioning bodily harm a year ago after attacking a different employee at the same office.
extracted: Queensland Times
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