The moment an NDIS worker single mother punched a woman in the face at a bar after she ‘told her Asian friend to leave the country’ has been captured on CCTV.
Natalie Tenina Stauber was seated with her friends in the smokers’ area of a Surfers Paradise bar about 4am on February 12, before a woman snatched a chair from behind a member of the group, sparking a tense confrontation.
The woman, unknown to the group, sat down and appeared to engage Stauber’s friends in a brief verbal exchange, footage of which was played to Southport Magistrates Court.
Stauber was then seen stepping between her two friends and the stranger.
The NDIS worker leaned into the still-seated woman’s face and waved a finger as the argument appeared to grow more hostile.
Stauber then stepped back and punched the other woman across the face.
A friend stood between the two and Stauber walked away from the stranger who continued to feel at her cheek, apparently in disbelief.
In court, defence solicitor Farshad Sarabi claimed Stauber first confronted the victim after she heard a racial insult directed at her friend.
Natalie Stauber was seen rocking the stranger with a right hook in CCTV vision played to court
The magistrate acknowledged the verbal argument which preceded the attack but reminded Stauber punching someone’s face is unacceptable
He claimed the victim told Stauber’s friend to ‘get out of the country’ after plucking the chair from behind her.
‘She takes the chair deliberately away from one of my client’s friends, who is of Asian descent, and just sits there and stares at them before saying some really choice words,’ Mr Sarabi said, according to the Gold Coast Bulletin.
‘The complainant actually works in law … (according to) her statement, so I suggest (she) should know better than to say things such as that, being perhaps somewhat educated.’
Daily Mail Australia does not suggest the woman made the comment, only that it was claimed in court.
The court heard Stauber was an NDIS support worker and single mum, who also cared for her own mother.
It was revealed she had one prior conviction for a similar assault charge.
The NDIS worker was seen arguing with the stranger after a chair was stolen from beneath her friend of Asian descent
Stauber also received a sentence for receiving or possessing property obtained from trafficking or supplying after she was caught dumping a cash-filled pillowcase worth about $71,000 into a laundromat dryer with a friend.
That charged was not connected to the incident at the bar.
Magistrate Jane Bentley acknowledged Stauber’s victim hadn’t appeared to be in much pain, and that some provocation had preceded the attack.
But, she said punching a person in the face remained unacceptable.
Stauber reportedly pleaded guilty to both the common assault and the unrelated charge.
The court fined her $2,000 for both offences.
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