Mum Jodie Robinson jailed for Sittingbourne Snooker Club bar glass attack
Published: 00:01, 20 June 2016
A mother of two young children has been jailed for 15 months for glassing another woman in the face, leaving her with permanent scarring.
Recorder Gareth Branston told Jodie Robinson he did not accept that she was remorseful about the attack, which happened in the bar of the Sittingbourne Snooker Club.
“Remorse is accepting responsibility and that does not seem to have happened in this case,” he said, sentencing her at Maidstone Crown Court.
In the attack, in November 2013, Frances Beach suffered two cuts near her right eye, which needed stitching.
Recorder Branston told Robinson: “It is clear from CCTV that Miss Beach pushed you, but you retaliated with great force.
“You knowingly struck her with a glass, which caused two significant wounds close to the eye.
“She remains scarred two and a half years later, as I saw when she gave her evidence.”
Robinson, 30, from Whitehall Road, Sittingbourne, had denied wounding with intent and an alternative charge of unlawful wounding. In May she was cleared of the intent and convicted by a jury of the lesser charge by a 10-2 majority.
At the trial, Robinson, who had drunk seven Archers and lemonades, accepted she punched Miss Beach in the face but denied she was holding a glass at the time.
Elise Jeremiah, defending, said her client, who has a previous conviction for violence, had learned a very valuable lesson and would not offend again.
“This whole incident occurred in a very infantile way,” she said.
“Your reaction was infantile and extremely unpleasant and long-lasting" - Recorder Gareth Branston
“These court proceedings have deterred her from getting into trouble again. She lives extremely quietly with her family and does not go out.”
Miss Jeremiah said Robinson had an eight-month-old son who had medical needs and problems with his breathing. She was also supporting her mother, who has cancer.
She added: “Sending her to prison would punish her, but would be more of a punishment on her family.”
Recorder Branston said Robinson could offer no sensible explanation for how Miss Beach’s wounds happened.
“Your reaction was infantile and extremely unpleasant and long-lasting,” he said.
“Using a glass like this is a very serious offence.”
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