Melbourne woman stubs lit cigarette in journalist's face, charged

In a bizarre incident, a 23-year-old woman in Australia has been charged with public nuisance for stubbing out a cigarette on a journalist's face outside a court.

The woman had been at Caboolture magistrates court, north of Brisbane, to hear murder charges against her friend. Media were attempting to interview supporters of alleged murderer Stevee Jane Kennedy when the young female supporter allegedly lit a cigarette, blew smoke into their faces and then stubbed out the cigarette on reporter Alex Bernhardt's face.

"Just had a woman stub her lit cigarette into my face at Caboolture Court... Charming," Bernhardt tweeted. Nine News Brisbane reporter Bernhardt decided not to press charges after the incident but police were still able to slap a public nuisance charge against the woman who will appear in court on July 23.

"Without her complaint, the best we can do is public nuisance," a police spokeswoman was quoted as saying by the Brisbane Times.

She said Bernhardt could still make a police complaint up until the woman faced the Caboolture magistrates court on July 23.

A supporter of murder accused Stevee Jane Kennedy, 22, the woman left the Caboolture Magistrates Court on Monday morning, pushing a pram down the ramp to the left of the entrance with a cigarette in her hand.

When a media scrum formed around her, video footage showed the woman grab one journalist's phone before allegedly stubbing her cigarette into Bernhardt's face.

Bernhardt said reporters followed the woman down the street as she left the courthouse to question her. "We asked sort of one or two questions as you normally would, we weren't sort of rude in any way," she said.

"And then she decided to basically start blowing smoke and her boyfriend was miming quite rude gestures as well and then she decided to stab me with the cigarette," she added.

Image: Alex Bernhardt