Yahoo News Mum's 'moment of madness' lands her in court
A long-running grudge from school days suddenly turned violent when a fired-up mother-of-two viciously glassed another woman in the face during a "moment of madness" after she had "seen red".
The toxic bad feeling between the two women had been festering for years but it came to a head during a bad-tempered confrontation at a pub and it left the shocked victim suffering a nasty cut on her forehead, Hull Crown Court heard.
Rosie O'Brien, 33, of Elm Avenue, Goole, admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm on the woman on July 3, 2022.
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Jordan Millican, prosecuting, said that the woman walked past a pub in Goole and noticed O'Brien outside with three other women. As the woman walked by, she and O'Brien looked at each other but nothing was said between them.
They had been at school together but they were not friends. O'Brien and others used to call the woman a "rich b***h because she came from an affluent background".
The woman later saw O'Brien inside the bar with two women and she heard the comment: "Oh, look. That sl*t's in here." The woman said nothing and she went to the toilets.
She later went to a beer garden area and a man asked her if she was all right. She replied: "No, not really. I'm getting some s**t from some people I used to go to school with."
O'Brien approached the woman holding an empty pint glass in her hand. O'Brien asked her: "Are you and me going to have a walk outside?" The woman replied: "We are outside. F*** off. Leave me alone."
The woman pushed O'Brien off her and she told her: "I just want a pint. Leave me alone." There was a struggle and the woman felt a heavy blow to the top of her head.
"She could feel blood running down her sides," said Mr Millican. O'Brien and another woman ran out of the pub. Bar staff helped the victim. "She blacked out before ambulance staff arrived," said Mr Millican. "She was on the floor surrounded by paramedics."
The woman suffered seven or eight seizures. She had a cut just above her forehead near her hairline. It was glued at Accident and Emergency.
The woman later said that she was very upset about the incident and she was panicking about how the injury might affect her appearance and whether she would have to wear a hat or change her hairstyle to disguise a scar.
O'Brien was arrested on July 4 of that year and she told police: "I know what you are here for." She made no comment to all questions during police interview. She had a previous conviction for drug-driving in September 2020.
Jazmine Lee, mitigating, said there was no excuse for what happened. "She is extremely remorseful for what she has done," said Miss Lee. "She is, frankly, beside herself. She is terrified of the position she finds herself and accepts that it is through her own actions.
"She doesn't seek to minimise her actions. She accepts full responsibility for what she has done. It was a moment of madness. She has seen red and acted in this fateful way.
"There is clearly a history between these parties. They have known each other for a long time. There has been a personal interaction a few years ago and the defendant has not been able to control herself."
There was a verbal exchange and a "melee" between them and O'Brien accepted that she was the aggressor. She did not go out with the intention of using the glass on the victim.
There were blows between both sides and it was claimed that the woman threw a pint over O'Brien. The glassing happened during a fast-moving incident. The Wetherspoons pub initially banned O'Brien for two years but this had since been lifted.
O'Brien had two children and she had her own business. "She has no intention to contact this individual ever again, given what's happened," said Miss Lee.
Judge Tahir Khan KC told O'Brien: "You committed a serious offence by thrusting a glass into her forehead that caused her a wound. Fortunately, the wound was dealt with by way of glueing rather than stitches.
"The upshot of your attack upon her is that she has been left with scarring to her forehead area. This incident, I accept, came about not through any determination by you to assault her.
"You happened to be in the same place and I am satisfied that you acted impulsively in what you did. You have expressed the appropriate remorse. You haven't minimised your part in what happened."
O'Brien was given a 16-month suspended prison sentence, 150 hours' unpaid work, 15 days' rehabilitation and a three-month alcohol abstinence monitoring order. She was given a five-year restraining order.
