![Sara Anderton pleaded guilty to multiple charges in Bendigo County Court.
Picture by Brendan McCarthy. Sara Anderton pleaded guilty to multiple charges in Bendigo County Court.
Picture by Brendan McCarthy.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/212676544/7a02fd31-2ce0-4072-9f4a-845857e3b669.jpg/r0_393_7360_4531_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
A woman who viciously attacked random people in broad daylight in Golden Square last year has pleaded guilty to multiple charges at the Bendigo County Court on July 19.
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Sara Jane Anderton, 37, pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary, common assault and damaging property after going on a rampage in a petrol station late last year.
Anderton, who has been in custody for 250 days prior to her most recent hearing, was visibly remorseful after watching the CCTV footage of her unwarranted and unexpected attack on two separate people on November 2 last year.
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Security camera footage showed Anderton walking into the petrol station and after taking a drink out of the fridge walked over the counter to pay.
After yelling "keep the f***ing change" to the store clerk she turned around and punched the person behind her in the head and chased him around the shop, jeering him to fight her.
During the standoff between the pair Anderton pushed over drink, toy and sunglasses stands causing hundreds of dollars worth of damages.
After he ran out of the building Anderton climbed over the counter of the shop, forced herself into the side office where the staff member was trying to hide and then attacked her, punching her seven times to the head and face.
The brutal attack left the 22-year-old worker with a black eye and swelling to the face.
Anderton then took a pair of scissors and repeatedly stabbed at the store's computer and keyboard casing thousands of dollars in damages.
The woman's final attack was against a third random bystander who was filling her Ford Falcon when Anderton took the scissors from the shop and running outside scratched "mutt" into the bonnet of the car.
The court heard Anderton was subject to a community corrections order, was homeless and was unmedicated for serious mental health issues at the time of the attacks.
In the staff member's victim impact statement read out at court, it documented how since the attack last November "everything is different."
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The statement said that for weeks "nowhere felt safe" for her and it took months to sleep properly.
"I feel I have to live with what happened every single day," the statement read.
Judge Geoffrey Chettle said while he took into account the woman's mental health problems and how important it would be upon her eventual release from jail to find permanent housing, he had to take into consideration the need to "protect the public."
Judge Chettle said it was risky to allow someone into the community who could lash out at any time to whomever was standing near her.
"She can go from 'can I have a can of coke please?' to punching you in the head," the judge said.
He said before sentencing Anderton it was important to get a full assessment of how she would handle having a community corrections order, especially when it came to linking in with mental health and medical services.
The judge ordered Anderton to be remanded until October 4 while the assessment was undertaken.
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