A couple have revealed the three-year trauma caused by a violent attack on their way home from a night out which left one of them scarred for life. The ongoing legal proceedings and anxiety even led them to delay their wedding to compound their misery.
Claire Riley was left permanently scarred following the savage street attack which her partner Kirsty Graham stepped in and tried to stop. Claire was violently assaulted by Jodie Lee Graham – a relative of her partner and just a teenager at the time of the assault” – in an attack that saw the victim “repeatedly punched” in the face following a night out in Caerphilly.
The incident happened on February 1, 2020, when attacker Graham was aged just 19 and victim Claire was 28. Claire’s partner Kirsty, who courageously tried to stop the assault, said a series of court delays and cancellations meant it took three years for Graham to be sentenced. Kirsty, 35, said it added extra trauma to their ordeal and made it impossible to move on and gain closure.
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Prosecutor Martha Smith-Higgins told a sentencing hearing at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court the victim and her partner had visited the Cwtch pub in Caerphilly following a Six Nations rugby game in Cardiff before the incident happened. The two parties, who are related, had been speaking for around 45 minutes at the pub before it closed at around midnight.
She told the court: “[The] conversation continued outside where the mood then altered. A police officer approached to separate them and advised the to leave the area. The officer spoke to the defendant who was ‘agitated’ and ‘shouting and screaming’.”
Next the court heard how the defendant – a sociology and criminology student at Swansea University – left the scene by car while Claire and Kirsty attempted to go home. But as they approached Brynau Road the defendant pulled up in a car along with her mother. “[The defendant] got out, attacked Ms Riley, and punched her repeatedly to the face while Ms Graham tried to separate them.” Ms Smith-Higgins said.
At this point a man saw and heard the disturbance “which lasted a few minutes”, the court heard. The man heard the car drive away along with shouting and swearing. He invited Claire and Kirsty into his house and contacted the police.
Claire was left bloody-faced with a number of injuries including a swollen and bruised left eye, a cut above her eye, a swollen neck, a cut on her nose, and tenderness to her right shoulder. Ms Smith-Higgins read out two victim impact statements from Ms Riley – one taken before proceedings started and one taken after a guilty plea was submitted by the defendant, on January 9, to a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH).
In those statements the victim said she had previously been “outgoing and sociable” but that she no longer enjoys social situations. She said she was still terrified of going into Caerphilly and that her “life has been put on hold for the last three years”. She said she “felt forced” to move home and install CCTV cameras worth more than £1,000. She added: “Every morning I wake up thinking about the incident and I have nightmares.”
Emily Jermin, mitigating for the 22-year-old defendant, said she was just 19 at the time of the incident “with a clean character”. She said the defendant “deeply regrets” what happened and was a “conscientious young woman”. She said: “She did own up to her involvement in this offence and came across in her interview with the probation officer as demonstrating genuine remorse.” Ms Jermin added that Graham was on track to making a good life for herself including having secured a job at the Marriott Hotel in Swansea to fund her studies in criminology and sociology.
Addressing the defendant Judge Jeremy Jenkins said: “You recruited your mother [and] punched [Ms Riley] several times causing her serious injuries. All of this has had a dramatic effect on her and as a result she has moved from her home... You will appreciate, more than others, the loss of your clean character. I only hope going forward it will not hinder you too much in the job market.” He added that he believes this will be the “first and last time any court will see you”.
Graham, of Attlee Court in Caerphilly, was given an 18-month community order which includes 80 hours unpaid work along with rehabilitation courses and a two-year restraining order. She was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £90 and £500 towards the cost of the prosecution.
Following the sentencing Kirsty described the toll the delayed proceedings had taken on her and her partner. She said the defendant originally pleaded not guilty on a number of occasions, which meant a trial would have to take place. However a series of cancellations and delays meant the case kept being pushed back.
Kirsty said: “We received about six dates for the crown court trial to start – all of which were cancelled. Sometimes we had 24 hours’ notice and sometimes on the day it would be called off. We would arrange time off work and gear ourselves up for all these dates which was horrific. The first trial was supposed to be in September 2020 – about six months or so after the attack. That was at the height of Covid so we understood why it was delayed. Then 2021 came and we had several dates given to us – all of which were cancelled again. We still kind of understood because at the start of 2021 Covid was still about. These dates would be cancelled sometimes with 16 hours notice or on the day they were supposed to happen.”
Kirsty said at the start of 2022 a trial date was at Newport Crown Court where she and Claire were both cross-examined along with their witness. But the trial was brought to an enforced early end when a juror developed Covid symptoms. This led to another year of promised and cancelled dates, she said.
“We then went down to Cardiff Crown in November 2022,” she said. “We turned up, had an in-depth meeting with our barrister all ready to go, then after disappearing into the court she come back and said: ‘I’m so sorry. I don’t know how to tell you this but it’s cancelled again because the judge can’t be there for the full week’.”
Ms Graham said a new trial date was set for January 9 this year at which point the defendant finally entered a guilty plea. This meant a trial was no longer needed and the case could go straight to sentencing on January 31.
“It’s been horrific,” she said. “We’ve lived and breathed this attack for the last three years. It’s daunting going into court and you have to really gear yourself up for it. You’ve got to go over everything in your head and you know that the defendant is going to be there listening to it. It caused us so much stress and anxiety and it put our lives on hold. We had to cancel holidays and schedule our wedding around it. I’m just glad it’s finally over now so we can get married in peace.”
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “We know the devastating effect delays can have on victims which is why we’re doing all we can to restore the swift access to justice they deserve. This includes spending almost half a billion pounds on measures to reduce wait times such as lifting the cap on the number of days courts can sit and recruiting more judges. We are also quadrupling funding for vital support services so that victims get the help they need.”
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