By CASEY NEILL
A NOBLE Park mother and daughter have been sentenced over a brutal attack on a bus driver in Dandenong.
Tahlya and Courtney Evans, aged 40 and 22, on 2 June pleaded guilty to assault and damage charges in Dandenong Magistrates’ Court over the 29 November incident.
They punched, bit and spat on bus driver and father of five Faavae Tuiloma as they disembarked at Dandenong Railway Station.
Both received community corrections orders – Tahlya 18 months and Courtney 12 months – which will require them to complete treatment programs.
Mr Tuiloma, 44, was behind the wheel of a bus travelling the 893 route from Cranbourne Shopping Centre to the station, and picked up the women at Dandenong Plaza Shopping Centre about 2.50pm.
They failed to use their myki cards when they boarded and Mr Tuiloma asked them to pay the fare when the bus reached its destination.
“All of a sudden she punched me in the chest. All of a sudden she ripped my shirt off. I just defended myself, pushing her,” he said last year.
“The second time I pushed this big lady in the mouth I feel my thumb went straight in her mouth and she bit it.
“When I went home that day my wife was so shocked when she saw me.
“I have five kids, four boys and my daughter. My daughter was just freaked out.”
Mr Tuiloma said friends had asked why he let two women beat him up, and said he had “a strong respect for women”.
“I know I was injured but in my heart I’m glad I let them go,” he said.
“If they were men, it’s a different story, defending myself.
“To me as a Christian – I’m serving in my church as a bishop for five years, now I’m still serving in high calling in my church – I still have to forgive them.”
The women came forward on 15 December after police released CCTV footage of the incident and appealed for witnesses.
View the footage here:
