A woman who subjected a man to racist abuse and months later broke into a hospital stole a small Christmas tree and a knife, a court has heard.
Dominika Coyne, of no fixed abode but formerly of Warrington, appeared at Liverpool Crown Court via video link on Tuesday. Coyne previously pleaded guilty to one count of racially aggravated harassment, one count of burglary in a non-dwelling and possession of a bladed article.
David Watson, prosecuting, outlined that on October 14 last year, Egerton Grizzle worked as a volunteer porter at a hostel, James Lee House in Warrington. He was on duty monitoring CCTV at 1am when he saw Coyne open the fire exit five times, causing the alarm to activate each time.
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Mr Grizzle asked her not to do it again, as she had been previously spoken to by other staff about this behaviour, and informed her that if she persisted her placement at the hostel could be at risk. Coyne reacted aggressively, shouting loudly and causing him to fear for his safety.
Mr Watson said: “As Mr Grizzle turned to leave, the defendant shouted at him ‘you cheeky black c**t”. “Mr Grizzle said ‘I heard that’ but left the scene to avoid further inflaming the situation.
“He was left feeling greatly upset by the incident and reduced to tears, against a background of having suffered racist abuse, he later stated, for the whole of his life.” The police were called and arrested Coyne at 7.30pm, where she said she had closed the door but did not realise it would set the alarm off.
Coyne also accepted she was angry when speaking to Mr Grizzle and did use racist language, but disputed the exact wording. A victim personal statement written by Mr Grizzle was read by the prosecution, and detailed how the victim struggled to talk about what happened to his family, and felt uneasy coming into work after the offence.
It read: “As a result of this crime I felt dirty inside because of what that woman said to me. “It has not affected my life as I have continued to live the lift that I choose, I will not let it stop me from doing what I love.
“I will not let anyone intimidate me, no-one has the right to speak to me the way I was spoken to that day and I hope I never am again.” Mr Grizzle said he has now “gotten over” the racially motivated verbal assault with the support of other staff, though he did lose sleep at first as he kept reliving the incident.
After being released on bail for that offence, two months later on December 20, staff at Warrington Hospital saw Coyne walking around the hospital, “behaving suspiciously and trying doors”, though not a patient there.
She gained entry to a dedicated training room between 3 and 6am which was not open to the public, but had been left unlocked. Coyne later vacated the room wearing a nurses uniform and stolen hospital lanyards.
Mr Watson detailed that Clare Hunt, the security operations manager at the hospital was informed Coyne had tied the room shut with string and evidence was found of someone sleeping there. At around 5.30pm, Coyne returned to the hospital claiming to need to see a doctor for a toothache, and that she was a volunteer cleaner though it was confirmed that Warrington Hospital has no volunteer cleaners.
Police attended but Coyne had left, though she returned at 11.35pm, was found and detained in the restricted area, still wearing the stolen nurse uniform. The mother-of-one also had a set of master keys for various doors in the hospital, a staff stethoscope and some hospital paperwork.
Coyne was arrested under suspicion of burglary, and found to have a Stanley knife in her rucksack, which she said she found in the training room. Mr Watson said: “No physical damage to hospital property was caused by the defendant’s actions, but a small Christmas tree and a mug stolen by the defendant remain outstanding.”
In police interview, Coyne said she went to the hospital to stay warm but repeatedly asserted she was a volunteer cleaner. In July 2022, Coyne was handed a 21 month prison sentence suspended for 24 months in relation to seven offences, including criminal damage, three counts of assault of an emergency worker, battery, possession of class A drugs, and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
In September of the same year, she was handed a further sentence of 16 weeks imprisonment suspended for 12 months for criminal damage, battery, malicious communication and possession of a bladed article. In total she has seven convictions for 15 offences, and by committing these further offences, has breached those two suspended sentence orders.
Cheryl Mottram, defending, said her client had not committed any crimes until the age of 40, but spiralled after the end of her marriage and subsequent loss of her cleaning business. She said: “She presents as somewhat of a conundrum because she has reached the age of 41 and now has a raft of previous convictions.
“Until that point, she had been a productive member of society, she had her own business, was married, and owned her own home. “The question for this court is of course what happened back in 2021 which caused Ms Coyne to completely change and present to the court as the person that she has been the past few months.”
Ms Mottram detailed that in 2018, Coyne divorced from her husband, and had to sell their marital home, before moving into private accommodation. Coyne’s defence counsel said the mother-of-one “would not have dreamed of speaking to anybody the way she spoke to Mr Grizzle” prior to her current situation.
She also detailed that the 41-year-old found the knife in the hospital, and kept it “as she thought it might become useful to her as she was living on the streets”. Ms Mottram continued: “It is a very sad and sorry state of affairs that she has found herself in this situation, particularly for someone who has worked very hard for most of her life.
“She very much wishes to go back in time to when she had stable accommodation, a stable relationship and a place to stay.” Coyne has been on remand in custody since February 13 and has signed up for an English and maths course in custody, though she already speaks “excellent” English.
In sentencing, Recorder Michael Armstrong said he recognised that Coyne had suffered “significant difficulties in recent years”, but also acknowledged the distress caused to Mr Grizzle as a result of her verbal harassment. For all offences including the activation of her two previous suspended sentences, she was handed 23 months imprisonment.
Forfeiture and destruction of the Stanley knife was ordered and the victim surcharge applies.
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