Mount Austin woman Marlie Creighton escapes jail time over post-wedding attack outside Mercure Hotel

Marlie Creighton, 22, was sentenced for two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, three counts of common assault, and two counts of destroy or damage property in the Wagga Local Court on Monday.

About 11.45pm on Saturday November 19, 2022 Creighton and fellow guests at a wedding that day were exiting a bus outside the Mercure Hotel when the scene turned ugly.

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As one of the passengers was exiting the bus Creighton roughly told them to "get out of the way" and gave them a shove.

A second person intervened trying to separate the accused and the victim, but while doing so, Creighton delivered a closed fist blow to the right side of his head.

Creighton then began encouraging him to hit back, but instead they kept pushing her away and telling her to leave.

Meanwhile, a third person began filming the incident with her mobile phone, and when a co-accused noticed this he allegedly approached her, grabbed the phone out of her hand and threw it away, cracking the front screen.

Creighton then approached the third person and grabbed her by the hair, striking her with uppercuts to the ribs and taking her to the ground.

A fourth person intervened and asked Creighton to get off the woman, attempting to pull her away. However she then turned and attacked them instead delivering a number of strikes, kicks and bites in the process.

About that time police arrived at the scene, just as Creighton and the co-accused were walking away. Catching up with them, they arrested Creighton and took her to Wagga police station.

All victims attended Wagga police station and gave statements, photos and videos of the incident.

Police reviewed the video footage which clearly depicts scenes from the incident and also shows that the co-accused had attempted to get Creighton to walk away during the incident.

In a police interview, Creighton admitted to the altercation but argued the group was "saying stuff" that caused her to "snap".

Creighton also told police she was attempting to defend herself from the victims, while at the same time claiming to have no memory of the incident.

She also admitted to all of the assaults but claimed they were in self defence.

When police showed her the video footage of the incident, the accused agreed she could have walked away on multiple occasions but said she stayed as she was angry at the "stuff said" to her.

While Creighton agreed with the police facts, she claimed she was in fact the one on the ground with the victims on top of her.

In court on Monday, Creighton's lawyer Zac Tankard said his client "doesn't have much of a record" and was still young.

Mr Tankard argued it would be best to serve any sentence in the community where she can receive appropriate rehabilitation treatment.

He said while Creighton's actions were "extremely serious", she has no history of violence.

Magistrate Rebecca Hosking noted the situation was aggravated by the fact Creighton was on a conditional release order at the time.

Magistrate Hosking also disputed the fact Creighton could not recall what she did on the night.

Noting the "nature of the violent attack", the magistrate weighed up whether to impose jail time, but ultimately sentenced Creighton to a 10-month intensive correction order and ordered her to perform 80 hours of community service work.

Creighton was also ordered to abstain from alcohol and drugs for the duration of the ICO.

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