MY ATTACK TRAUMA CAR WINDOW BREAKS AFTER THUG SMASHES WOMAN’S HEAD ON IT
A YOUNG mother has said she could have been killed after a man smashed her head through a car window and assaulted her friend when they tried to stop an altercation in Londonderry.
Hannah Kelly was treated for a suspected fractured skull and lacerations to her head and back after the attack.
The 20-year-old described how the assailant gripped her around her neck and slammed her head into the back window of a parked car in the Lower Clarendon Street area in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Hannah, a mother-of-one from the Waterside, and her friend had stepped in to help a man who had been knocked unconscious by another man in a city centre taxi queue.
She explained: “My friend and I were out on Friday night.
“We were walking towards the taxi rank to get home and we could see a fight happening. We stood back and didn’t get involved.
“But one of the men was knocked unconscious and the other one was still kicking him on the ground. I went over and told him to stop, that he was going to kill the fella.”
The woman explained how the man then turned on her.
She added: “He started shouting at me, calling me all sorts of names and was right up in my face.
“My friend tried to separate him from me and he lifted her off her feet and pushed her hard into scaffolding. I tried to get him off her.
“He turned his attention to me. He grabbed me by my neck and shoved my head right into the back windscreen of a car, I remember the pain in my head, the glass smashing and it cutting into my back.
“I don’t remember much after that. I was in a daze. I had to be taken to hospital in an ambulance.”
The young woman was left concussed, had lacerations to her back and head and had to have scans to determine if her skull was fractured.
She said she is lucky to be alive and has appealed for witnesses to come forward.
“I want him to be caught,” she said. “I want justice for the man lying on the ground that he had beaten, and for myself and my friend. Someone knows who this person is.
“I’m just thankful that my one-year-old daughter didn’t lose her mummy.
“It has just traumatised me. I am battered and bruised, have huge painful pressure in my head and am afraid to go out of the house.
“I was just trying to help someone who was in danger.”
PSNI Sergeant Hughes appealed for witnesses to the incident.
“Police attended the scene, following the report of an altercation just after 2.45am,” he said. “It is believed that four people sustained injuries, two of whom required medical attention.
“The two — a man and woman in their 20s — were taken to hospital by colleagues from Northern Ireland Ambulance Service for treatment to head injuries. It’s reported that the female’s head had been banged against a car windscreen.
“There were people in the area at the time and we’re appealing to witnesses or anyone with information to get in touch on 101, quoting reference number 277 of 03/08/2019.
“In particular, we have received reports of a man wearing a white jacket/jumper and black jeans.
“It’s believed that he made off from the scene, heading towards Strand Road.
“Please get in touch with any information that could assist our enquiries.
“Alternatively, information can be provided to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111, which is 100% anonymous and gives people the power to speak up and stop crime.”