A woman who had drunk 10 pints of beer left an innocent mother of four with sickening facial wounds after she threw a bottle during a “moment of total madness” on a pub dance floor.
Thea Haywood, 29, from west Hull, threw a bottle of beer at a man after seeing her boyfriend headbutt him out of “misplaced loyalty” during a violent scene at 2am
However, the bottle he missed it and punched the mother, who was trying to act as a peacemaker, in the face and was taken to Hull Royal Infirmary.
At Hull Crown Court, Haywood admitted to injuring 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 center at 2am.
Thea Haywood (pictured), 29, from west Hull, threw a beer bottle at a man after seeing her boyfriend headbutt him, but instead hit an innocent mother of four.
Although the well-intentioned mother of four did not know any of those involved, she intervened to try to defuse the situation and hugged the man who had been headbutted.
“It was during this lull in the confrontation that the defendant threw a bottle and that is what hit the victim in the face,” Godfrey said.
Haywood had been standing next to a porter at the time the bottle was thrown over his shoulder.
The mother, in her 30s, spent five days in hospital after sustaining fractures to her face, including her eye bone and sinus areas, requiring an operation under general anesthesia to insert a metal plate into her cheek area.
He also said that he had suffered physically, emotionally, psychologically and financially from his ‘shocking’ injuries.
She said, ‘I couldn’t 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 a mother of my four children. It changed my life from day to day.’
Haywood had the mother, who was in her 30s, spend five days in hospital after her facial injuries.
Although she was previously a sociable and active person, now the mother feels anxious when leaving the house and says that she does not feel safe. She said: “When I think about having to leave the house, I have an intense feeling of dread that comes over me.”
He was receiving counseling and now went out only “once in a while”.
Recalling the pub incident, he said, “I wish I hadn’t gotten involved.”
Charlotte Baines, mitigating, said Haywood pleaded guilty at the first opportunity and had no prior convictions.
Miss Baines stated that the “behavior was totally and completely out of her usual character” and said: ‘She expressed immediate regret for her actions. She felt disgusted with herself.
‘She wishes to apologize directly to the victim for the harm she has caused him. She has demonstrated a good conscience of the victims. She has fully understood the severity of her actions.
‘She realizes that they have had a profound effect on the victim. She has expressed genuine remorse. There is an acknowledgment 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 because 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 prior convictions. Pictured: Hull Crown Court
Since then, Haywood has not committed any more crimes and the extenuation said that “he has already moderated his drinking habits and now only drinks occasionally.” She is determined never to get so drunk again.
Judge Mark Bury told Haywood: ‘Your partner and another man had an argument. It may have been that the other man was killing your partner. His partner lost control of herself and headbutted this other man.
“Once your partner was locked out, you were needlessly involved in pointing fingers and engaging with the door staff, no doubt in an attempt to make sure the other man was kicked out.”
As Haywood was leaving, he threw the bottle from which he had been drinking, about a yard, ‘towards the man who had disturbed his partner, but did not hit that man’.
He punched the mother-of-four in the face, causing ‘serious’ injuries, including a black eye, a cut under the eye and facial fractures. “She has overcome the physical injuries, but the emotional impact, of course, continues,” Judge Bury said.
You used a weapon, which was the bottle. You were under the influence of alcohol. This was in a public place, a tavern that was full of customers at the time of this incident.
Haywood was jailed for a year after Judge Bury said there had to be “a deterrent” in sentencing.
As she emerged from the dock to be taken to the cells, Haywood wept, wailed and yelled “I’m so sorry” to her husband, who was sitting in the public gallery.
