Smiling again, the girl aged 9 scarred by bottle yob
SMILING angelically, Abbie Keers shows the incredible progress she has made since her face was left scarred by a drunken yob who flung a beer bottle. The nine-year- old gymnast was nearly blinded after the Budweiser bottle was hurled on to a dual carriageway by Matthew McCrea – who was yesterday jailed for assault.
Six months later, her scars appear virtually healed. But inside, her family say she is still struggling to come to terms with the trauma.
‘She gets really upset and angry and that’s not Abbie,’ said her grandmother Sandra Webb. ‘She is normally such a placid little girl. Her character has changed.’
Earlier, McCrea, 24, received an eight-month sentence at Durham Crown Court for throwing the bot- tle through a car window in February after drinking 15 lagers.
Abbie – who was being driven by Miss Webb on the A693 in Stanley, County Durham – was showered with glass when the front passenger window of her Fiat Punto shattered. The schoolgirl was left with injuries to her nose and both eyelids. She was taken to hospital where she had plastic surgery.
In a victim impact statement read out in court, Miss Webb said Abbie was still in pain every day and had asked if she was ugly.
‘She looked in the mirror and she said she doesn’t look the same,’ the statement added. McCrea, from Stanley, had admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm on the basis that he inadvertently hit the moving vehicle.
The prosecution said it did not accept that basis for his plea but was not in a position to disprove it. Paul Newcombe, prosecuting, said there were too many variables to scientifically analyse exactly what had happened.
Liam O’Brien, defending, said McCrea was ashamed of his actions, which were not premeditated.
‘He and his family are shocked and appalled he could be responsi- ble for the terrible injuries that were caused to this poor young girl,’ Mr O’Brien added.
‘He has learned a terrible lesson, but he has learned it well.’
Outside court, Miss Webb said Abbie had become much quieter since she was injured. ‘She is a lot more within herself but we are trying to rally around her and build up her confidence,’ she added.
Sergeant Michael McGowan said: ‘We hope that the sentence will bring some closure to Abbie and her family and allow Matthew McCrea the opportunity to consider the consequences of his actions.’