A woman jailed earlier this month after stabbing a homeless woman with a broken wine glass was previously warned after causing "havoc" on a flight.
Keisha Harty, 26, flipped over a table before launching herself at the victim during a New Year's Eve party, leaving her with a permanent scar. Following the incident, she went on the run for close to a year before being caught shoplifting.
In 2017, Harty walked free from court after going on a drunken rampage while on a Ryanair flight between Cork and Liverpool to see her dying granddad. During the incident, she screamed at the cabin crew while falling into other passengers, the Liverpool Echo reports.
Read more: Balaclava-clad teen robbed boy, 16, of £800 Gucci bag
Harty, who was 20 years old at the time, avoided immediate jailtime because the incident began after the aircraft had touched down. An air stewardess noticed she was kneeling up in her chair after the seatbelt light had been switched on.
Despite agreeing to sit down and fasten her seatbelt, the staff member sat close to her in order to "keep an eye on her" as she noticed the defendant was slurring her words. Once the plane landed, Harty was described as being "unsteady on her feet, screaming and shouting and falling on other passengers near her".
The police were made aware of the incident and boarded the flight, leading Harty to begin "violently ripping out of her hair extensions". While being interviewed, Harty explained that she had been drinking the night before the flight and had drunk from a bottle of vodka bought in duty-free while on the plane.
It was also revealed that Harty had suffered a miscarriage two weeks before the incident had received news that her granddad was terminally ill. He tragically died three days after.
Meanwhile, Harty was sentenced to a four-month imprisonment suspended for 12 months and fined £750 after pleading guilty to being drunk on an aircraft. She also admitted to criminal damage after urinating in the back of a police van following her airport arrest, resulting in a £75 cleaning bill.
Judge Neil Flewitt KC told her: "You have had a near miss today - stay off the vodka."
However, last week Liverpool Crown Court heard that Anna Rudolf was at her home on Tudor Road, Rock Ferry, Wirral, with her two children at around 8pm on December 31, 2019, when her neighbours Harty and Tracey Morgan knocked on the door.
Neil Bisarya, prosecuting, highlighted that the pair had been drinking and brought alcohol with them. After the kids were put to bed, a man called Robert Murray brought Nicola Hilton to the house shortly before midnight.
While the guest had been "getting on well with everyone", Harty began arguing with her while shouting and swearing at a table with Ms Rudolf and Ms Morgan shortly after 3am on New Year's Day. Despite the shouting, Ms Hilton, who was stood next to the table opposite Harty, "did not respond".
All of a sudden, Harty flipped the dining table and began attacking her by grabbing her hair and pulling out clumps. Eventually, the pair were separated with Ms Hilton retreating to the kitchen.
However, Harty then picked up a wine glass which had been smashed and "lunged forward" at her, striking her in the face. She then fled from the property with Ms Morgan and Mr Murray.
As a result of the incident, Ms Hilton suffered a "deep laceration to the right side of her face which was bleeding profusely" and needing a skin graft and 21 stitches.
Harty, now of Highfield Road in Rock Ferry, was arrested at 9pm the same day and claimed in the interview that she had left the scene at 2am. Ms Bisarya noted that the victim was left "traumatised" by the incident and "can't walk down the street without the fear of being attacked".
After being charged with and pleading not guilty to wounding with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm, Harty did not appear in court after being released on bail - a warrant was issued for her arrest in July last year.
Two trials scheduled did not go ahead because of her absence. Harty had fled to Ireland where she was caught shoplifting in April 2022 and jailed.
She was then extradited back to the UK on October 11 after serving her sentence and changed her plea to guilty while admitting to breaching court bail.
Tom Challinor, defending, said: "Ms Harty understands what she is to be sentenced for and she accepts what she is to be sentenced for - it is a courageous plea and one which spares the victim the final ordeal of being put through a contested trial.
"The offence is completely out of character. What seems to have gone wrong for Ms Harty is that she became involved in two relationships, one after the other, which were particularly difficult. That is an understatement. They were physically violent and emotionally traumatic relationships.
"The first come to an end in about 2015 when Ms Harty was still quite young. She came to England, where her father lives, to secure a fresh start.
"But she walked straight into a second abusive relationship. That came to an end, finally, last October.
"Very serious threats were made against her by her partner, and she was housed in accommodation out of the city to get her away from that man. This man found out where she was living.
"It was shortly after that Ms Harty disappeared. That man persuaded her to cut off her electronic tag and go to Ireland with him.
"All of that, the physical and mental abuse, has deeply traumatised her. She found herself in the grip of a drug addiction.
"It was against that background, and in the chaos of addiction to heroin and crack cocaine, that she found herself behaving in the way that she did on that New Year's Eve. The woman that appears before you today is not the same woman who caused those terrible injuries - she has the support to keep her on the right track when eventually released."
Harty, who appeared via video link to HMP Styal, was jailed for five-and-a-half years. She will serve two-thirds of this sentence before being considered for release on licence - Judge Gary Woodhall also imposed an indefinite restraining order.
Read next:
-
Shisha bar accused of ‘operating unlawfully’ after police called out after hours
-
'I delivered pizzas during the pandemic – now I work in tech for Deliveroo'
-
The list of sites in Manchester where new affordable homes are set to be built
-
Manchester council braced for budget cuts and 3 pc council tax hike to plug £96m gap
-
Council 'could have bought Man United' with the money lost through budget cuts
