A 19-year-old woman was given a conditional discharge for assaulting a female stranger in a Charlottetown nightclub.
A judge Tuesday ordered Hailie Dawn Livingston to perform 10 hours of community work, apologize to the victim and to stay away from the nightclub in question for six months.
Livingston changed her plea to guilty of assault when appearing in late January before Chief Judge John Douglas in provincial court in Charlottetown.
The court heard that on Oct. 18 Livingston and a friend were at a bar in Charlottetown where the dance floor was packed with about 100 people.
Livingston and the victim, who was there dancing with her boyfriend, didn’t know each other. While they were all on the dance floor, Livingston’s friend started making comments about the victim, including remarks about how she looked and the skirt she was wearing.
At some point Livingston grabbed the woman by the hair and punched her three times. The woman ended up on the floor before bouncers were able to intervene.
Crown attorney John McMillan described the incident as an unprovoked assault on a stranger, noting alcohol was not a significant factor.
Defence lawyer Thane MacEachern sought a conditional discharge, which Douglas granted Monday after considering a pre-sentence report and the nature of the crime.