Pregnant Folkestone woman drove car into partner’s ex-girlfriend twice
Published: 05:00, 13 April 2024
Updated: 21:00, 13 April 2024
A “hormonal” pregnant woman who mounted a pavement with her car to twice ram her partner’s ex-girlfriend has been spared prison.
Senna Greenaway, from Folkestone, used the vehicle to push Natalya Daly into a wire fence before reversing and accelerating into her once more.
The raging 28-year-old then climbed out of her car and started to attack her stunned victim, who believed she “could have been killed”.
But Greenaway avoided going to prison this week after a judge considered the harm it would cause her two children, including the baby boy she has since given birth to.
Canterbury Crown Court was told there had been a conflict between her and Miss Daly concerning the father of Greenaway’s unborn child, but no further details were disclosed.
The dispute culminated in the violence of Saturday, August 19, last year, when Greenaway spotted Miss Daly walking home from an evening out with friends along North Street, Folkestone.
Miss Daly told how she saw a car coming at her at a “fast pace”, before it mounted the pavement near the Lifeboat pub and drove into her, pushing her into a wire fence and then to the ground.
Prosecuting, Caroline Knight, said that after seeing Miss Daly get to her feet, Greenaway reversed and drove into her once more.
Managing to stand again, Miss Daly went to the driver’s door to identify her attacker, at which point Greenaway got out and started to assault her.
The court heard the victim’s friends were forced to step in to pull Greenaway away as she had hold of Miss Daly’s hair.
Miss Daly miraculously escaped with minor injuries, reporting bruising to her ankle and thigh and pain in her back.
But she told the court the ordeal has had a lasting psychological impact on her.
“When our conflict all started I just wanted to sort it out,” she said in a statement read out at Thursday’s sentencing hearing.
“Now I’m having panic attacks and I’m scared to leave my own home.
“My anxiety is through the roof and I’m always looking over my shoulder.
Now I’m having panic attacks and I’m scared to leave my own home...
“She could have killed me. I can’t continue to live my life like this.”
The court was told a TikTok video Greenaway had posted online mocking the incident had also impacted Miss Daly’s mental health.
Greenaway was arrested after the incident and at a previous hearing at Folkestone Magistrates’ Court pleaded guilty to causing actual bodily harm.
Mr Blick, representing Greenaway at the crown court, admitted the use of her car as a weapon would likely make it a high culpability offence, but argued there were mitigating factors the judge should consider.
He described how Greenaway had been made homeless earlier that day following an argument with her mother and suggested she was experiencing a “mental health crisis” at the time.
“The assault was a culmination of this,” he said.
“This is entirely out of character for the defendant and she continues to care for her two children, for whom she is regularly their sole provider.”
Mr Blick added that Greenaway, who is no longer with her baby’s father, has a much-reduced risk of reoffending now as her mental health has improved.
Before delivering her sentence, Judge Alison Russell addressed the defendant directly.
“You saw [Miss Daly] and wanted to confront her about the relationship,” she said.
“You mounted the pavement and drove directly into her and she was pinned against the fence.
“I accept that you were in a state where you had lost control of your temper. It is very lucky for you that her injuries were not far, far worse.
“A car is capable of causing serious injury, including death, but there was little long-term harm to Natalya Daly.”
The judge went on to say that she accepted the remorse Greenaway had expressed in a letter to the court was genuine, and acknowledged that due to her pregnancy her “hormones were all over the place” at the time of the attack.
Greenaway, who also has a seven-year-old daughter, was handed a three-year restraining order banning any contact with her victim.
She was also given a 16-week jail term suspended for 12 months, during which time she will be required to attend 10 rehabilitation days.
Concluding, the judge addressed Greenaway directly, telling her she had not imposed an immediate custodial sentence given the strong chance of rehabilitation and the significant harm it would cause to her children.
“You are not a violent young woman,” she told the carer, who is currently on maternity leave.
“You are getting this one chance because I accept this is totally out of character.”
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Ruth Cassidy