Attacker kicked woman’s head ‘like a football’
A DRUG user tried to attack a woman with a wine bottle and told police she “would have been on a murder charge” if she had succeeded in breaking it.
Elaine Carmody, 34, carried out the vicious assault on Rebecca Cooper in Cardiff city centre on October 7 on a bench near Burger King in Queen Street.
The victim was punched repeatedly before being dragged to the ground where she was kicked to the head. The defendant even tried to break a wine bottle she had been drinking from on the bench in an attempt to attack Ms Cooper with it but she failed to do so.
A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court on Friday saw video footage of the attack, which took place at 3.30pm when shoppers and other members of the public were walking past.
Prosecutor Bethan Evans said Ms Cooper had known Carmody for a number of years.
The defendant poured some liquid out of the wine bottle she was holding and struck it twice on the bench in an attempt to smash it before punching her victim.
Ms Evans said: “The wine bottle flies out of her hand and she pulls the complainant to the floor by her hair, delivering eight punches to her head and body.
“She then delivers six kicks to the back of her head while on the floor. At one point a male is trying to pull the defendant away and does so momentarily but the defendant goes back and delivers a running kick which has a considerable amount of force to it.”
Ms Cooper sustained a cut to her left eye and a bloody nose, as well as cuts and bruising to her lip.
Carmody was arrested later that day and in her police interview, she told officers: “If the bottle had smashed I would have been on a murder charge.”
Carmody later pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent.
The court heard the defendant has 24 convictions, relating to dishonesty offences and a small number of violent offences.
At the time she committed the assault, Carmody was on a community order for stealing perfume from Debenhams.
Defence barrister Derrick Gooden said he accepted his client kicked the victim’s head “like a football” and said it was remarkable she did not sustain more serious injuries.
He said Carmody had mental health issues and had been released from a mental health unit at Llandough Hospital two days before the assault.
Sentencing, Judge Richard Twomlow said: “This was a very determined attack in a public place which fortunately did not have the consequences it might have done if the bottle had smashed which was your intention when you hit it against the bench.”
Carmody, of HMP Eastwood Park, was sentenced to three years and four months in prison.