Ladies Day that ended in a VERY unladylike punch-up
THEY were all part of a group out to enjoy a ladies’ event at a racecourse.
But a row over what they were wearing ended with two women being injured, a court heard.
Hairdresser Karen Jeffrey, who was wearing a hat, formal dress and high heels, allegedly hit a young mother after mocking her mud-stained white jumpsuit.
Brooke Marshall, 25, said that she ended up with two black eyes and a suspected broken nose.
Her friend, Joanne Falconer, 24, told Hamilton Sheriff Court that she had been left with bruised ribs after Jeffrey attacked her.
Jeffrey, 48, of Hamilton, Lanarkshire, denies assaulting the friends outside the town’s racecourse in August 2019.
The court heard the women had all gone to the annual Hamilton Park ladies’ event.
But the evening was cut short when torrential rain caused the meeting to be abandoned.
The bust-up came after the group decided to walk to a restaurant in nearby Bothwell. Kitchen designer Miss Falconer, of East Kilbride, Lanarkshire, said Jeffrey took exception to mud stains on
‘She pulled me to the ground’
her friend’s white jumpsuit. She told prosecutor Shaun Alexander: ‘Karen made a comment about having different standards and said that Brooke could not go to the restaurant looking like that.
‘There was an argument and Karen pulled me to the ground. She was on top of me. Brooke tried to stop her, but Karen pulled her hair.
‘I tried to get Karen away from Brooke and she punched me, giving me an instant black eye.
‘It was a traumatic experience. I was on painkillers for suspected cracked ribs.’
Miss Marshall, of Uddingston, Lanarkshire, told the court Jeffrey had punched her ‘several times on the face’ and threw her to the ground.
Both alleged victims admitted they had been drinking, but insisted they were not drunk and denied a defence claim they had attacked Jeffrey.
Miss Marshall, who broke down in tears during her evidence, said: ‘That’s ridiculous. I’ve never been in a fight in my life.’
Jeffrey’s lawyer, Angela McCracken, claimed the friends ‘kicked off’ after her client said the young mother ‘was in no fit state to go anywhere’.
She also alleged that Jeffrey was ‘in fear for her life’ when she was attacked and had some of her hair extensions pulled out.
The trial, before Sheriff Douglas Brown, was adjourned until next month.