Legal News
18-month sentence after drunken fight leaves woman blind in one eye (10 December 2013)
Date: 10/12/2013
An 18-year-old woman has been given a prison sentence after being involved in a drunken fight in which another woman was blinded in one eye by a stiletto shoe.
Melissa Hawkins of Rectory Lane in Kidderminster, Worcestershire pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding during a fight between two groups of women outside Tribe nightclub in Kidderminster. The fight took place at 4am on 22 June 2012 and left Roisin Murrihy blinded in one eye after Hawkins removed her stiletto shoe and hit her in the face with it.
Two other women involved in the fight, Melissa Brown, 18, of Clapton Road in Birmingham and 20-year-old Georgie Dickens of Wood Street, in Wolverhampton pleaded guilty to affray.
Hawkins received an 18-month jail sentence and Judge Robert Juckes QC warned that anyone who indulges in drunken fighting in the street could receive a prison sentence.
The court heard that at the time of the fight, the injured woman was enjoying a promising career in the beauty industry. Losing her sight has made her prospects of success less likely – and she now also has problems with her sight because of the strain placed on her remaining eye.
Hawkins accepted responsibility for inflicting the injury – the stiletto heel of her shoe penetrated Ms Murrihy’s right eye. She will require further surgery on her left eye and also reconstructive surgery on her right eye to improve the appearance.
The court was told by Hawkins’ defence counsel that his client was “utterly ashamed” of her behaviour and what had happened to Ms Murrihy as a result.
Hawkins was only 16 at the time of the attack and had since matured, the court heard – she now has a career in hairdressing.
Judge Juckes said the three women charged admitted they had been binge drinking before the fight.
Brown and Dickens were electronically tagged with a curfew, and also received a community order – Brown received a community order with supervision for 12 months.
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