A TYRONE duo have been put on probation after a woman was left ‘covered in blood’ following a drink-fuelled incident in Strabane.
At Strabane Magistrates Court last Thursday, Stephanie Farmer (28), of Donowen Park, Clady, and her co-accused, Ryan Percy Eugene Glenn (25), of Derg View, Castlederg, were both sentenced after their conviction for common assault.
The prosecutor told the court that, around 5am on July 10, 2023, police in Strabane were enroute to an incident on Bridge Street when a woman ‘covered in blood’ approached the car in distress.
Officers notified the ambulance service who arrived and treated the woman for a head injury, noting that she ‘lost consciousness’ due to the blood loss. The woman claimed that she had been at the property of a man in Bridge Street for a number of days, during which she had no access to a phone and wasn’t permitted to sleep.
On July 10, the man called for both defendants to come over and encouraged them to participate in the assault against the victim.
The victim stated that both Farmer and Glenn kicked and spat on her, adding that Farmer pulled her hair.
She further claimed that the duo told her if she called the police that ‘harm would come to her’.
Shortly after the woman attempted to leave the house, she claimed that she was shoved by the defendants, falling over and hitting her head on the pavement, causing the head injury. Both of the defendants are claimed to have kicked the legs of the victim as she laid on the ground.
The victim then made her way to seek help from a neighbour. However her knocks on the windows were met with silence.
Instead, she alleged the defendants followed her, saying they would ‘chop her into pieces’.
bloodstains
A subsequent police investigation found bloodstains on Glenn’s shoes, and both defendants were brought in for questioning on the same day.
Glenn provided a no-comment interview, however Farmer informed the officers that both of them had consumed over a dozen drinks between them that evening.
Farmer’s account of the incident was that they came over via taxi and the victim had lost her phone, with the defendants attempting to help the woman find her device.
However, an altercation broke out between the parties and the defendants pushed the woman out of the house. Shortly after they looked out the window and observed the victim lying on the ground.
Farmer admitted there was a verbal argument but stated the victim just walked towards the town afterwards.
Defence counsel Joe McCann told the court that, while the prosecution outline ‘sounded terrible’, the charges both defendants faced did not reflect all of the allegations made. Mr McCann elaborated that, between counter-claims, hearsay and contradictions, the defence did not agree with the prosecution outline, and the ‘chaotic’ circumstances of the case made it difficult to assert what had fully occurred.
While Mr McCann noted that alcohol was taken by all parties involved, he said that it was a ‘regrettable’ and ‘disgraceful’ incident.
Defence counsel Stephen Chapman added on Farmer’s behalf that the defendant pleaded guilty to the assault and admitted she lost her temper that night, but noted that all involved were intoxicated.
In sentencing the defendants, District Judge Alana McSorley, said that Farmer had showed ‘no empathy’ towards her victim, while Glenn had ‘limited acceptance’ of the incident.
Farmer was sentenced to 40 hours of community service alongside a probation order of 18 months. Glenn was sentenced to two years of probation. Both defendants had a restraining order against the victim imposed for a period of two years.
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