Catherine James of Slade Close, Lordswood has been jailed for battering her friend in Chatham
Published: 00:01, 14 May 2015
This is the face of a callous woman who battered her friend for no reason while she was drunk.
Catherine James, 41, ordered Lisa Calamari out of her room before pulling her hair, pouring cider over her head and making her lie on the floor.
She was jailed for 15 months at Maidstone Crown Court, after admitting assault causing actual bodily harm.
James, of Slade Close, Lordswood, has also been charged with making threats to kill but was cleared of that offence by a jury.
Throughout James’ trial, Miss Calamari claimed she was made to strip naked by James, then tortured and told to kill herself by taking an overdose of pills or hanging herself.
James was alleged to have meted out the treatment to Lisa Calamari for taking drugs into the house where they both lived in Chatham.
Miss Calamari said she was in her room when James, 41, ordered her out.
"Have you seen my record? I bit someone’s ear off..." - Catherine James
She said James pulled her hair and poured alcohol over her head.
Miss Calamari said: “She told me to take off my clothes. I took my clothes off. She would hit me more if I didn’t.”
“I have a crutch because I have a bad back. She picked it up. She told me to stand in the corner and put my hands on my head.
“She was poking me in the back of the legs. She had a lighter and was burning the backs of my legs.”
Miss Calamari said James punched her hard – “she punches like a man” – before going upstairs and fetching a belt and loads of painkillers.
“She told me I had a choice. I could either hang myself and make it look like suicide, or I could take all the tablets.
“She got a glass of water. I thought that was my lot.”
James admitted in evidence “I just battered her for next to nothing”, but she denied some of the allegations made by the victim.
James, who has been recalled to jail to serve the remainder of a sentence for wounding with intent, told prosecutor Rhodri James: “Have you seen my record? I bit someone’s ear off.”
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Keith Hunt