Mother assaulted police officer after school had taken her daughters away because she was drunk

A mother pushed a police officer in frustration after having her daughters taken away from her by their school teachers while she was drunk.

Tatjana Alabjeva, 39, of Dobby Drive in Lynn, appeared at the town’s magistrates’ court on Thursday charged with assault by beating of an emergency worker.

She pleaded guilty to the offence, which she committed on October 19 at her home address.

Crown prosecutor Holly Postle told the court that on that date, police had been called to the property to carry out a welfare check regarding Alabjeva’s two children.

In mitigation, solicitor Tiffany Meredith said this occurred after Alabjeva attempted to collect her children from their respective schools.

She picked up her first child but, while attempting to collect the other, she was told by staff that because they believed Alabjeva had been drinking, they would be keeping her other child in school and taking their sibling in too.

Social services were subsequently contacted, and Alabjeva went home and drank more alcohol alcohol.

Ms Postle said that at this stage, the defendant became argumentative with officers upon their arrival and pushed one with two hands to the chest, causing him to stumble backwards. This culminated in her assault charge.

The incident was caught on body-worn footage, and Alabjeva was arrested.

Ms Meredith said the defendant was suffering from “a huge amount of stress” at the time of her offence, and had been told by social services to make arrangements for her children to stay elsewhere that day.

“It wasn’t a happy incident,” the solicitor said.

“She admits it was a mistake to start drinking at all in the morning, but she was extremely tired. As you can hear, the situation very quickly snowballed very much out of control.”

Ms Meredith said Alabjeva receives no financial support from the two fathers of her children, and is therefore very careful with money to ensure she can care for them adequately.

She also told the court that the social services’ crisis team is now only visiting her once a week, having previously been checking in every day.

Magistrates, led by Ginny Hutton, handed Alabjeva a six-month conditional discharge.

She will also pay £100 in compensation to the police officer she assaulted, legal costs of £145 and a £26 victim surcharge.