A young woman from Byron Bay struck her friend and called her a “two-faced b****” during a jealous dispute over a man.
Eva Harrelson, 21, appeared before Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, where she acknowledged assaulting her friend.
Harrelson, who shares glamorous, influencer-style posts on Instagram, was charged following the incident in Melbourne’s inner south on June 22 this year.
The court heard the dispute began after Harrelson and the victim argued over a “male associate they had both met in the weeks prior”.
The argument continued for about an hour in Harrelson’s bedroom, involving the victim and another person.
Harrelson called the victim a “two-faced b****” before telling her and the other person: “I am so close to both f***ing hitting you right now.”
While the victim was sitting on the bed, Harrelson struck her across the face with the “left side of her hand”.
The blow knocked the victim over on the bed, the court was told.
A well-travelled young woman from Byron Bay struck her friend and called her a “two-faced b****” after the pair became involved in a jealous argument over a man
Harrelson, who shares glamorous influencer-style content on Instagram, was charged following an incident in SUBURB on DATE
Harrelson continued yelling at the victim after striking her.
Once the yelling stopped, the victim went to the bathroom and used Instagram to speak with her brother about what had happened.
The court heard Harrelson told the victim to leave the house immediately after she came out of the bathroom.
The victim subsequently reported Harrelson to police. Officers contacted the accused before she was summonsed to a police station for questioning.
Harrelson admitted to police that she had hit the victim.
“Yeah, I pretty much smacked her across the face,” Harrelson said.
She also told police she had been “heated and upset” in her bedroom during the incident.
“It was just plain-straight, like, [a] smack across the face. It wasn’t, like, hard. Like, it was like a hit. Like, it wasn’t, like, big. It was, like, you know, a slap,” she said.
The court heard Harrelson told the victim, who is not pictured, to leave the house as soon as she came out of the bathroom, where she had been speaking to her brother via Instagram
Harrelson has posted on Instagram about her new career as a roustabout
Harrelson, who represented herself while wearing a sleek and professional court outfit, accepted the summary of allegations.
However, she alleged that the victim had exaggerated the ferocity of the assault.
‘Yeah, but she did lie about how I did it,’ Harrelson told the court.
‘Um, she said it was a half-closed fist but it was an open-hand slap to the face, yeah.’
While disputing the finer points of the assault, Harrelson told the court that she ‘took full accountability for my actions’.
‘I am generally sorry and I have no excuse about raising a hand to another person. I have taken steps [to] see a psychologist for [mental health issues] and my impulse [control],’ she said.
Harrelson, who was charged with the unlawful assault on July 24, also said she had taken up full-time work in the country, working six and ‘sometimes seven days’ a week as a roustabout.
The court heard Harrelson grew up near Byron Bay but had travelled around, living on the Gold Coast for a period of time.
Harrelson explained that she was in Melbourne during the period when the assault occurred for ‘family’ reasons.
Harrelson said she worked alongside her father in construction on the Gold Coast before becoming a dental assistant there and later in Melbourne. She recently took up work as a semi-skilled manual labourer.
The court granted Harrelson diversion after being informed that she wrote the victim a letter of apology shortly after the incident.
Her matter will be discharged in 12 months if there are no further slip-ups.
