A woman who had downed 10 pints of beer left an innocent mother-of-four with sickening facial injuries after she hurled a bottle during a ‘moment of utter madness’ on a pub dance floor.
Thea Haywood, 29, from west Hull, threw a beer bottle towards a man after seeing her boyfriend headbutt him out of ‘misguided loyalty’ to him during a violent scene at 2am.
However, the bottle missed him and hit the mother, who was trying to act as a peacemaker, in the face and she was taken to Hull Royal Infirmary.
At Hull Crown Court, Haywood admitted wounding the woman on April 9 last year.
Prosecutor David Godfrey said there was an argument between two groups of men on the dance floor of The Star pub in Hull city centre at 2am.
Thea Haywood (pictured), 29, from west Hull, threw a beer bottle towards a man after seeing her boyfriend headbutt him but hit an innocent mother-of-four instead
Although the well-meaning mother-of-four did not know any of those involved, she intervened to attempt to calm the situation and put her arms around the man who had been headbutted.
‘It was during this lull in the confrontation that the defendant threw a bottle and that’s what hit the face of the victim,’ said Mr Godfrey.
Haywood had been next to a bouncer at the time when she threw the bottle over her shoulder.
The mother, who is in her 30s, spent five days in hospital after suffering fractures to her face, including her eye bone and sinus areas, and needed an operation under general anaesthetic to insert a metal plate into her cheek area.
She also said that she had suffered physically, emotionally, psychologically and financially from her ‘shocking’ injuries.
She said: ‘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.’
Haywood caused the mother, who was in her 30s, to spend five days in hospital following her facial injuries
While she was previously a social and active person, the mother is now anxious when leaving the house and claims that she does not feel safe. She said: ‘When I think about having to leave the house, I get an intense feeling of dread coming over me.’
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She was having counselling and was now going out only ‘every now and again’.
Recalling the of the pub incident, she said: ‘I wish I had not got involved.’
Charlotte Baines, mitigating, said that Haywood pleaded guilty at the first opportunity and had no previous convictions.
Miss Baines claimed the ‘behaviour was wholly and utterly out of her usual character’ and she said: ‘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.
‘She realises that they have had a profound effect on the victim. She has expressed genuine remorse. There is a recognition of the damage she has done by her foolish and reckless actions.’
‘It was a moment of utter madness in the heat of the moment out of that misplaced sense of misguided loyalty,’ said Miss Baines. ‘She was under the influence of alcohol. She had drunk 10 pints.
Haywood pleaded guilty at the first opportunity and had no previous convictions. Pictured: Hull Crown Court
Haywood has since had no further offences and the mitigation said she ‘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. It may have been that the other man was winding your partner up. 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.’
As Haywood was leaving, she threw the bottle, that she had been drinking from, about a yard, ‘towards the man who had upset your partner, but it didn’t hit that man.’
It hit the mother-of-four in the face, causing ‘grave’ injuries, including a black eye, a cut under the eye and face fractures. ‘She has got over the physical injuries but the emotional impact, it’s clear, is ongoing,’ said Judge Bury.
‘You used a weapon, which was the bottle. You were under the influence of alcohol. This was in a public place – a public house that was full of patrons at the time of this incident.’
Haywood was jailed for one year after Judge Bury said that there had to be ‘an element of deterrence’ in the sentence.
As she left the dock to be taken down to the cells, Haywood cried, wailed and shouted ‘I’m so sorry’ to her husband, who was sitting in the public gallery.
