A woman who had downed 10 pints of beer recklessly threw a glass bottle in the middle of a pub dance floor, leaving an innocent mother with "grave" facial injuries. Thea Haywood, 29, had spotted her boyfriend headbutting another man during violent scenes and in a "moment of utter madness" she hurled a beer bottle at the person her boyfriend was fighting.
However, the bottle missed her target and instead hit a well-meaning mum-of-four, who was trying to break up the fight, Hull Live reports. The victim was left with injuries so severe that she needed a metal plate inserted in her face.
Hull Crown Court heard that Haywood confessed to wounding the victim on April 9 last year after she involved herself in the confrontation out of "misguided loyalty" to her boyfriend. David Godfrey, prosecuting said there was an argument between two groups of men on the dance floor of The Star Pub in Hull City Centre at 2am.
Mr Godfrey said: "It was during this lull in the confrontation that the defendant threw a bottle and that's what hit the face of the victim." Haywood had been standing next to a bouncer at the time when she launched the bottle over her shoulder which hit the mother, who was taken to Hull Royal Infirmary.
The victim, who is in her 30s, suffered fractures to the face including her eye bone and sinus area and required an operation under general anaesthetic to insert a metal plate into her cheek area. She later said that she had suffered physically, emotionally, psychologically and financially from her 'shocking' injuries.
She recalled: "I could not believe how I looked. I didn't want anyone to see me looking this way. My children were also upset. I felt the lowest I have ever felt as a person and as the mother of my four children. It changed my life on a day-to-day basis."
The woman, who had previously had a positive outlook on life and was an active, social person, said she now feels too anxious to leave her home. She said: "I don't feel safe. When I think about having to leave the house, I get an intense feeling of dread coming over me."
The incident made her feel like she was "failing as a mum" and did not feel able to collect her youngest child from school. She spent five days in the hospital recovering and was told the plate in her face would be permanent but she had no physical effects or deformities from the incident.
Charlotte Baines, mitigating said that Haywood, who works part-time with a young family, pleaded guilty at her first opportunity, has no other previous convictions and "expressed genuine remorse".
Miss Baines said: "This behaviour was wholly and utterly out of her usual character. She expressed immediate regret for her actions. She felt disgusted with herself.
"She wishes to apologise to the victim directly for the harm that she has caused her. She has shown good victim awareness. She has understood entirely the severity of her actions."
The court heard that Haywood had seen her boyfriend, now her husband get into an argument and had lost control while under the influence of alcohol. Miss Baines said: "It was a moment of utter madness in the heat of the moment out of that misplaced sense of misguided loyalty.
"She was under the influence of alcohol. She had drunk 10 pints. There have been no further offences and no further trouble that she has involved herself in. The defendant has already moderated her drinking habits and now only drinks occasionally. She is determined not to become that intoxicated again."
Judge Mark Bury told Haywood: "Your partner and another man got into an argument. Your partner lost control of himself and headbutted this other man. Once your partner was excluded, you were unnecessarily involved by finger-pointing and engaging with the door staff, no doubt in an attempt to ensure that the other man was ejected."
Haywood threw the bottle that she had been drinking about a yard with the intention of hitting the man who had upset her partner but it hit the mother instead. Judge Bury continued: "She has got over the physical injuries but the emotional impact, it's clear, is ongoing. You used a weapon, which was the bottle. You were under the influence of alcohol."
Haywood was consequently handed a one year prison sentence after Judge Bury said that there had to be "an element of deterrence" in the sentence. As she left the dock to be taken to her cells, Haywood cried, wailed and shouted "I'm so sorry" to her husband, who watched from the public gallery.
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