Enniskillen Court House
Two young Enniskillen women who dragged their victim from a taxi and assaulted her, causing actual bodily harm, have each been given 200 hours of community service and ordered to pay compensation worth a total of £500.
The details of the attack were heard at Fermanagh Magistrates Court where 24-year-old and Jemma Carters, of Carran Crescent, Drumclay and Tanya Power (22), of Kilmacormick Avenue were both convicted of assault causing actual bodily harm.
The prosecutor outlined that on Saturday March 1 2014 at the Diamond in Enniskillen CCTV footage alerted police to an ongoing disturbance in the area involving a number of females. Police spoke to those involved, but no one chose to make a statement at the time.
On March 9 the injured party made a complaint to a police station in Scotland, where she lives, along with a male who was with her at the time of the incident. Police also interviewed the other parties involved.
On June 5 the defendants were interviewed and CCTV footage was seized. During the attack the injured party suffered 5×5 cm loss of hair from the left side of her head and was examined by a doctor at the South West Acute Hospital.
The CCTV footage revealed that earlier in the night the injured party had an interaction with a male who appeared to be intoxicated and had marks on his face after falling into a car. The defendants felt that the injured party either caused the injury or was laughing at him and had words. Following on from this the footage showed the injured party being dragged from a taxi by her hair and assaulted, with knees thrown at her while she was on the ground.
Greg Patton, defence barrister for Carters explained that his client was shocked and cried when she was shown the footage again clearly and stated her actions were “bang out of order” and not acceptable. He highlighted to the court her previous clean record and said Carters’ parents had been more than displeased by her actions.
Referring to the knee striking the injured party district judge Nigel Broderick replied: “If they had seen the CCTV footage they would be more than displeased, it was a vicious attack.” Mr Patton highlighted the mother of one’s positive pre-sentence report stated that Carters had no issue with alcohol or drugs and on the night in question she had been out with friends having a meal. Since the incident Mr Patton told the court the defendant had not been out in town.
Defence barrister Heather Philips, representing Power said this was a ‘very serious matter’ , but asked for credit for her guilty plea, albeit at a late stage. She told the court her defendant was not the instigator in the matter and claimed there appeared to have been an issue in the nightclub which led to the incident outside and the situation in the taxi.
The defence indicated her client’s regret and disgust at the incident and asked the judge not to consider a custodial sentence.
Speaking directly to the defendants the district judge said: “This was a vicious and unprovoked attack. Having viewed CCTV it is quite clear whatever words were exchanged there was no justification for you going over to her, dragging her out of the vehicle and assaulting her the way you have.” The judge called it a ‘shocking’ and ‘traumatic’ incident for the injured party, but took into account the clear records and guilty pleas of both defendants in making his decision.
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