A mother accused of assaulting an underage girl at Woden bus interchange is guilty of "extremely poor parenting", but not of an attack, a court has been told.
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The woman's son is also before the courts, accused of stabbing the same girl and punching her in the face during the incident.
Police arrested the 37-year-old woman - who had been placed on a good-behaviour order just days earlier - and her son, who is also underage, about 7.30pm Sunday. Neither mother nor son can be named for legal reasons.
Police allegations tendered to the court said the mother and son had been at the bus interchange about 4pm on Sunday when they ran into the girl, who was a friend of the boy.
The court heard the girl had yelled abuse at the pair. The mother allegedly told the girl, "I'm sick of your shit", before pushing her in the chest.
Magistrate Bernadette Boss said the woman's alleged violence had been in response to "very little provocation".
"This is a person on a good behaviour order who steps in and assaults a much younger woman," Dr Boss said.
The woman's son allegedly went on to stab the girl in the abdomen with a knife, resulting in her being taken to hospital.
"[The accused] didn't stop her son ... punching a young person, female, in the face, even if she wasn't aware of the knife," Dr Boss said.
The woman's lawyer said there was no evidence to suggest she had known her son had a knife, although the alleged altercation was "admittedly extremely poor parenting" and "admittedly setting a bad example for her son". The lawyer indicated the mother would plead not guilty to the charge of common assault.
Dr Boss said the woman seemed unwilling to comply with the "very basics" of a good behaviour order. She feared the woman would try to contact the girl, and interfere with evidence if she was released on bail.
The woman was refused bail and remanded in custody to appear in the ACT Magistrates Court again in February.