A woman who slammed a cream crepe into the face of a chief minister has been given a 12-month suspended jail sentence for aggravated assault.
Suzanne Lee Milgate was found guilty in December after being filmed hitting then-chief minister Natasha Fyles with the thin pastry at Darwin's Nightcliff Markets in September 2023.
Sentencing Milgate in Darwin Local Court on Tuesday, Judge Julie Franz ruled the crepe was an "offensive weapon" that had caused injury to Ms Fyles who was left with bruising around her eye.
Milgate, who has had her real estate agent's licence revoked for harassing tenants, described the crepe incident as an act of "protest" against COVID-19 vaccine mandates by Ms Fyles.
She told the court during her trial her husband had suffered a stroke in January 2020 and required an operation, but could not get a vaccine exemption.
Milgate represented herself on Tuesday, first making applications for the judge and the prosecutor to disqualify themselves from the case, claiming they were biased and had colluded with Ms Fyles against her.
"I feel like all of you are her agents ... when the battle is just between me and her," she said, standing at the lawyers' bench.
Milgate, who was 56 at the time of the crepe incident, said she had been on national television to say sorry but Ms Fyles had refused her apology.
Judge Franz rejected both applications to disqualify herself and the prosecutor, saying she was not of the view there was bias in the matter.
Milgate said she had never been a bad person and would "never hurt a fly".
Judge Franz accepted Milgate's offending in the crepe incident was out of character and that she had previously been of excellent good character.
But when Milgate kept interrupting sentencing remarks, the judge warned her she would call security in.
The offending was not a legitimate protest against COVID mandates, but an aggravated assault that had hurt and distressed Ms Fyles, Judge Franz said, noting the maximum penalty for the offence was five years in jail.
The offending was premeditated, as Milgate had asked someone beforehand to film the crepe attack, with no remorse shown later, the judge said.
She took into account Milgate had been suffering stress, anxiety and depression at the time of the incident, had lost her real estate business and livelihood and had spent 24 days in jail after being arrested.
When Milgate heard she had been given a 12-month suspended jail sentence she began to cry and thanked the judge, saying "you redeemed yourself".
Outside court Milgate told reporters the result was not fair because it stopped her getting her real estate licence back, but she would appeal.
