Stephanie Bowman’s lawyer Lucy Maranga told the court her client had committed a one-off mistake under the influence of too much alcohol.

Ms Maranga asked the court to consider imposing a bond without a conviction so that her client could “demonstrate that she can do the right thing by the community”.

Instead, magistrate Terry Lucas imposed a 12-month suspended jail sentence and fined Bowman $2000 for two counts of assaulting a police officer, using offensive language and resisting police.

Bowman was drinking at the Royal Hotel on the night of October 21.

She was asked to leave at about 2.15am the next morning because hotel staff believed she was intoxicated. She was escorted from the premises by security staff.

Bowman stayed in the vicinity of the hotel, swearing at security guards at the front of the premises.

When police arrived she swore at them.

Bowman spat on one officer’s jumper and on another’s pants. She physically resisted police as they tried to arrest her.

Mr Lucas said laws were in place to protect police from being assaulted during the course of their jobs.

“In the usual case law, spitting on a police officer would almost certainly result in jail,” he said.

“The law says there must be a penalty. With behaviour like this there is only one answer.”