Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Mum glassed by daughter saves her from prison
She writes judge a character ref
A MUM who was glassed by her daughter during a pub crawl helped her attacker avoid jail after giving the judge a character reference.
Jade Rhodes, 29, left mum Joanne with a black eye, a cut cheek and needing stitches on her eyeball.
Rhodes told police she could not remember being in the pub – and it emerged she got a suspended sentence a month earlier for beating up an emergency worker.
But Joanne, in her 40s, told officers she wanted to forgive her daughter, who a court heard had medical conditions as a child and mental health issues due to a “terrible personal life”.
She was present as Rhodes, of Whitefield, near Bury, Gtr Manchester, faced court. And the judge thanked her for giving a character reference as he spoke of the need for Rhodes to be “guided properly”.
Prosecutor Sarah Wait told Minshull Street crown court: “The defendant attacked her mother in Bury on July 8.
“The defendant’s mother grabbed her by her face. The defendant later took the pint glass and smashed it in her face.”
Rhodes has seven previous convictions for assault and in June got 12 weeks’ jail, suspended a year, for assault by beating of an emergency worker.
The court heard of her troubled past and lawyer Katie Laverty added: “She pleaded guilty at the first opportunity. “Her mother has forgiven her and says it was out of character.”
Rhodes appeared via video link from HMP Styal in Cheshire and admitted GBH. She got 12 months, suspended for two years, plus 25 rehabilitation days.
Judge Paul Lawton told her: “That behaviour would normally result in immediate custody and you were also subject to a suspended sentence at the time. However, your background is one of the most tragic I have ever read.
“[But] the way of dealing with that isn’t a tequila sunrise or Stella Artois.”
Addressing Joanne after the hearing, he added: “Thank you for your reference. The answer to her problems is not alcohol. She will get through these problems if she is guided properly and you are one of the principal people doing that.”
ON RHODES’ ISSUES