Mum-of-11 used dog lead to ‘whip’ woman in pub car park
A MUM-OF-11 repeatedly struck a woman to the face and chest with a metal dog chain as she sat in a car outside a pub.
Sara Dale believed the woman had been involved in an altercation with one of her daughters earlier that evening and had gone to the pub to confront her about it.
Cardiff Crown Court heard the victim suffered a serious eye injury, as well as extensive bruising and swelling to her face and breasts.
The defendant’s barrister said the 41-year-old was “fiercely protective” of her children and her family was shocked by her behaviour.
Ross McQuillan-Johnson, prosecuting, said late on the night of December 31, 2022, the defendant received a phone call from her 19-year-old daughter saying she had been assaulted by three woman at the pub where she was celebrating new year.
The court heard the teenager’s phone died before she could say anything more and the mother then began calling friends, as well as ringing the pub itself “to make her own inquiries”.
The prosecutor said Dale was given the name Chelsie Bowley and the defendant contacted the woman directly leading to an exchange of voice notes and messages.
The defendant then drove to the Hollybush pub in the Pentwyn area of Cardiff to look for her daughter and to confront Miss Bowley.
The court heard Dale and a number of other people spotted Miss Bowley sat in the passenger seat of a car parked outside the pub and approached the vehicle.
Dale, who was armed with a metal dog chain, then began swinging the weapon and smashed one of the car’s windows before opening its doors and repeatedly striking Miss Bowley to her face and upper body with the chain while shouting threats and telling her: “Take this as a warning.”
The prosecutor said the victim later recalled how it felt like she was being “whipped” with the dog lead and was pleading for the beating to stop.
The police were called and the defendant left the scene.
She was arrested later that night at home and told officers the dog chain had been in the car and she only intended to use it to frighten the other woman.
In her victim impact statement, Miss Bowley said she was on medication for anxiety and depression and since the incident has suffered with “anger outbursts”.
She said: “This is not how I want to live my life”.
Dale, of Stacey Road, Adamsdown, Cardiff, had previously pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent, affray, and criminal damage when she appeared in the dock for sentencing. She has no previous convictions.
Clare Wilks, for Dale, said the defendant realised her behaviour on the night in question was “wholly unacceptable” and she was remorseful for what she did.
She said the defendant was a mother-of-11 and was “fiercely protective” of her children and she asked the court to find there was a “degree of provocation” in the build-up to the incident by way of “provocative and threatening” messages from the complainant and her “associates”.
The barrister said when her client got the pub she encountered a “hostile environment” and said she accepted she should have just driven away rather than using the dog lead in the way she did.
Miss Wilks said Dale was part of a close-knit family and they had all been shocked at her behaviour.
Judge Lucy Crowther said it was clear from everything she had read and heard there had been “some sort of scene” in the toilets of the pub involving the defendant’s daughter and other females but neither the police nor the landlady became involved.
She said following the call from the teenager to her mother there was an exchange of “foul-mouthed and abusive messages” before the defendant went to the pub and the assault took place.
The judge said “very concerning injuries” had been caused to Miss Bowley’s eye which required laser treatment to repair the damage and said the victim had also suffered bruising and swelling to the face and to her breasts and torso.
Judge Crowther said the starting point for sentence on the guidelines was one of 54 months in prison but given everything she had read about the defendant, and in particular about her caring responsibilities as a mother of 11 children with eight living at home, the starting point would be reduced significantly to 36 months.
Dale was sentenced to two years in prison.
She will serve up to half in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.