Costly way to buy ginger beer
A HERVEY Bay woman who smashed two bottles of ginger beer during an outburst in Dan Murphy's bottle shop has been ordered by a court to pay $13 to replace the items.
Natalie Anne Fitzgerald, 38, attended the shop in Pialba with a female friend about 10am on February 2.
The two women began arguing inside Dan Murphy's after approaching the counter to pay for the two bottles of ginger beer.
In her angry state, Fitzgerald picked up the bottles and threw them at a side wall where they smashed and left a mess of glass and liquid.
The two women ran from the store but were later tracked down by the manager, who found them in a car park at the nearby Stockland shopping centre.
Fitzgerald was "highly intoxicated" at the time, Hervey Bay Magistrates Court was told when she appeared on charges of wilful damage and public nuisance. In the shopping centre car park, she was causing a disturbance among a group of people and was heard yelling at a teenage girl to leave her alone.
She then rushed over to the youth, still yelling, and kicked the younger woman in the leg.
In court Fitzgerald said she had little memory of the day.
She was convicted of the two crimes and ordered to pay a $600 fine, plus $12.90 for the bottles she smashed.
