Fragrant Womanhood...

Following on from the 'unprovoked violence' theme started over at 'Orphans', this cautionary tale:

David Baker was left with severe head injuries after the savage beating in which he was kicked, punched and stamped upon.

The 24-year-old had reached the Central Bridge in Southampton where he had the misfortune to meet a gang coming in the opposite direction. The four had been drinking and the three men were also high on crack cocaine. They launched a ferocious attack on him, leaving him lying on the ground, before they walked off without a care in the world.

It seems this was indeed a genuinely unprovoked attack.

Although he has returned home, David will never fully recover from his injuries.

During the trial a statement from his mother, solicitor Jane Hiatt, was read out in which she described her son as “a happy, lively sociable character, who was quite outgoing, who was not violent and would never get involved in any sort of confrontation or fight”.

Which is admirable, but leaves you totally unprepared for random, hard-core violence from someone who is not just prepared for it, but actively looking for it…

Stephanie Hill, 19, and the main aggressor John Smith were overheard talking about the attack while reading the Echo.

Yesterday Hill, of Lydgate Road, Thornhill, Southampton, was convicted of causing grievous bodily harm with intent. She had admitted the lesser charge of common assault, claiming that she had not kicked David Baker hard, but denied the more serious allegation.

The jury wasn't convinced by that...

After retiring for just over three hours the jury returned with a guilty verdict.

They also found her guilty of helping to steal beer from the Co-op a few hours earlier.

Recorder Stewart Patterson rejected a bail application, noting that Hill ran off when police went to arrest her and fearing she would abscond remanded her in custody until July 22 when she will be sentenced with Smith.

He told her: “As your council (sic) has pointed out, you are likely to receive a custodial sentence.”

Hill began sobbing before she was led away.

Really think she'll received a custodial, Recorder? Really? Even though she's got previous, she's a mother. And putting her in jail would upset a lot of people, as a result.

Still, maybe that previous isn't for violence?

A teenage mother, who has admitted being part of a drunken attack on a cyclist left in a bloodied heap, has three previous convictions for assault, Southampton Crown Court heard.

One of them bearing a striking resemblance to the assault on the cyclist:

Stephanie Hill, 19, had been drinking when she attacked a middle-aged stranger, who she struck on the head and pushed, and who ended up in a river.

On another occasion she had twice kicked a police officer when she resisted police entering a flat and on the other she attacked a man in a row over drink when she feared he was going to call the police on his mobile phone.

What a charmer. I wonder how many of those fourteen child welfare and protection agencies are involved with this one?

And I wonder if even John Sentamu could 'find value' in its life?