A WOMAN who attacked her mother’s former partner with a glass in a Chester nightclub has been jailed for five years.
Emma Bird, 31, thrust a glass into Kevin Ryder’s head after he had an altercation with her mother during a night out with friends and family at Cruise nightclub in May last year.
Chester Crown Court heard how Bird’s mother had ‘sparked off matters by throwing her drink over her ex-partner, who then reciprocated the action and backed away, prompting both women to follow him off the dance floor.
Simon Parry prosecuting, told the court that when all three were in a corner, Bird ‘delivered the large glass she was holding to Ryder’s face and shattered it’, leaving him requiring 37 stitches and with serious facial wounding and scars, some of which remain evident today, as well as occasional numbness and blurred vision.
Bird, of Westminster Road, Hoole, had previously denied charges of wounding with intent but was convicted at a three-day trial last month.
Defending, Mark LeBrock said mother-of-one Bird acted ‘very much spur of the moment’ and ‘did not know all the background when she saw her mother under attack’.
But Judge Roger Dutton said though there was a degree of provocation, nothing could excuse such a serious use of a weapon.
Bird and her family wept as he sentenced her to five years imprisonment, citing his ‘duty to the public’.
He said: “I give you as much credit as I can for the positive features in your case – a lot of people speak very highly of you.
“It is quite plain you have remorse, your character is excellent and you have responsibilities for your daughter, but for a few moments on that night, there was intent to cause serious bodily harm and CCTV images I’m afraid, give a graphic picture of what took place,” he added.
“There is no suggestion you were grossly drunk but you and your mother pursued that man, and she should also be thoroughly ashamed of herself for her part in sparking things off.”
