Belfast woman (37) jailed for kicking another woman in the head while she lay on the ground

A north Belfast woman who kicked a “defenceless'' female to the head and face while she lay on the ground has been jailed.

Judge Mark Reel told Toni McMahon she will spend half the 23-month sentence in custody with the remainder on supervised licence on her release from prison.

McMahon (37), of Carlisle Road, previously pleaded guilty to a single charge of inflicting grievous bodily harm.

An eyewitness reported that McMahon approached the victim, tried to pull a bag from her shoulder and then struck her which was “the last thing she remembered'‘.

The witness said McMahon told the victim to “keep my sister’s name out of your mouth'' before punching her three times to the face at Writer’s Square in the city centre on January 29, 2022.

The victim fell to the ground and mother-of-four McMahon “repeatedly kicked the female to the face and head while she lay on the ground” before police were called.

During a CT scan in hospital, it was revealed the victim had sustained a fracture to her eye socket.

Defence barrister Rachael McCormick told the court that McMahon had “quite significant issues with addiction to alcohol'‘.

The lawyer told Judge Reel that McMahon was trying to seek treatment for her alcohol addiction.

She added that the attack was “very concerning and very frightening for the victim'' and all parties involved in the incident suffer from alcohol issues.

Judge Reel said that in 2020, McMahon received a probation order for another serious assault and subsequently breached that order.

In a pre-sentence report, McMahon told a probation officer that she was “sorry if she did commit the offence'' but had “genuinely no recollection'' because of the amount of alcohol she had consumed.

She added that she also had “little recollection'' of any of the 52 entries on her criminal record - 17 for theft, two for serious assaults, eight common assaults, possession of an offensive weapon and two assaults on police.

The Probation Board assessed the defendant as a high likelihood of reoffending in the future.

The judge said that in November 2022, McMahon received an eight month sentence suspended for two years for assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Said Judge Reel: “This was an unprovoked attack, intoxication was involved, the defendant has a record for violence, it was quite a sustained attack and there was kicking to the head of a defenceless victim while they lay on the ground.

“I do accept that this was a spontaneous assault rather than a pre-meditated assault.‘’

The judge told McMahon: “Your offending is so serious that neither a fine nor a community sentence could be justified and only an immediate custodial sentence is appropriate.”