Woman who savagely SCALPED a pregnant cop and was spared jail shares bizarre message outside court

An anti-vax Adelaide mum-of-four brutally scalped a pregnant police officer during a brawl outside a pub, but won’t spend a single day in jail, sparking a furious backlash.

Raina Jane Cruise, 39, was given a two-year suspended sentence after she was found guilty of the vicious assault which ripped out a huge strip of the officer’s hair.

But Cruise was unapologetic outside Adelaide District Court and instead delivered a bizarre warning to her victim, Constable Anthea Beck.

‘Yes, I would say don’t vaccinate your daughter,’ Cruise told media at the courthouse.

Now South Australia Acting Police Commissioner Linda Williams has slammed the decision to let her walk free after the cowardly attack.

She has demanded an urgent appeal against the sentence and says she wants Cruise behind bars for the savage attack.

‘The suspended sentence is not in line with community standard and has distressed core police officers,’ Williams said.

‘I have asked our prosecutions team to examine sentencing remarks and initiate a discussion with the DPP with a view to appealing the outcome.

‘In an environment where assaults against police are increasing a suspended sentence in this case simply sends the wrong message and is totally unacceptable.’

She added: ‘Potential offenders need to know that if they assault an emergency services worker there will be severe consequences, that they can expect a custodial sentence as the legislation allows.

‘And police who place themselves in danger on every shift they work need to know they have the full support on the judicial system.

‘The suspended sentence handed to Raina Jane Cruise, who was found guilty of a violent, sustained and cowardly attack on a female officer, has not met either of these basic expectations.’

Cruise describes herself as a naturopath and homeopath also assaulted two security guards earlier on the same night at the Exeter Hotel in Adelaide’s Rundle Street.

The court heard Cruise was heavily intoxicated after attending a freedom rally in October 2021 but was booted from the venue over an row about mask mandates.

Her first victims were two hotel security guards she admitted attacking when she faced court on December 4, grabbing one by the windpipe and punching him in the throat.

The court heard she had punched the other guard around the head. 

Cruise and the two men she left the venue with were stopped by Beck and another police officer who were investigating the assaults on the security guards.

Prosecutors said Cruise compared the police to Nazi Germany before she ‘latched onto Constable Beck’ and dragged her to the ground.

The court was told Cruise yanked at Constable Beck’s hair and smashed the cop’s head off the pavement as she yelled: ‘I will smash you one-on-one, b***h.’

Constable Beck, who did not know she was pregnant at the time, admitted in court she had hit Cruise twice during the attack.

‘She has got a handful of my hair, she’s got control of my head, she’s jerking me around and it hurts, she’s on top of me and I can’t get out,’ Constable Beck said.

‘I was losing control of the situation, I was scared for my safety – I was very scared – because I had this person who was fairly heavy on top of me.

‘I’m alone, there’s no-one coming, I have to get out of this situation because how many times do I let her hit the back of my head into the footpath?’

Beck suffered multiple injuries during the altercation, including two large patches of her hair torn from her scalp.

The officer later submitted a victim impact statement after she later discovered she was pregnant at the time of the incident.

‘When you kicked me, you kicked my baby. I can’t think of my pregnancy without thinking of you,’ Beck said in her statement.

‘So caught up in yourself you couldn’t see me for what I am. I’m a woman, a mother like you. I would’ve listened to you.’

Cruise was found guilty of intentionally causing harm to Constable Beck after denying the charge in court. The incident breached an earlier two-year good behaviour bond.

District Court Judge Joanne Deuter said Cruise had been ‘significantly intoxicated’ but that did not excuse her ‘violent’ behaviour.

‘I accept that you have a problem with your behaviour after drinking alcohol and that you were particularly fired-up after attending an anti-vaccination rally,’ Judge Deuter said. 

‘However, that’s not an excuse and never should be for striking out at a person who is simply doing their job.’

She added: ‘Your resentment against the government’s vaccine policy came to the forefront when police questioned you.

‘You vented your anger inappropriately upon police.’

Judge Deuter jailed Cruise for three years and eight months with a non-parole period of two years, but suspended it for a three-year good-behaviour bond.

It includes 100 hours of community service and a ban on alcohol consumption.

The Director of Public Prosecutions has 21 days to lodge an appeal.