Donna Ellis and Elisa Smith attacked a woman while out drinking in Newcastle
Donna Ellis and Elisa Smith
A mother has been jailed for breaking a woman’s nose while out on her hen do with her daughter. Donna Ellis and her daughter Elisa Smith had been out drinking on August 10 2024 to mark Ellis’ upcoming marriage.
They ended up in Newcastle city centre, as was the victim, who had been socialising with work colleagues at The Black Garter pub. While she was smoking outside, she became aware of Ellis referring to her daughter as a s**g and Smith becoming upset.
Newcastle Crown Court heard the victim told her to walk away from her and Ellis reacted aggressively to this and squared up to her, gesturing for her to fight. The victim responded verbally and the situation escalated.
Ellis then punched her to the face and Smith took hold of her and dragged her to the ground, where both of them repeatedly punched and kicked her until she lost consciousness. Both women were then throwing punches and offering violence to others in the vicinity. A betting shop window was broken during the disturbance, which involved an ugly brawl captured on CCTV.
Police attended and arrested the mother and daughter and Ellis tried to headbutt a police officer.
The attacked woman suffered fractures to her nose and septum, which was deviated. She had to undergo a procedure to reset the broken nose.
Smith told police her mother often became abusive when drunk and had called her a s**g and that the victim had told her not to speak to her like that and it escalated from there..
In a victim impact statement, the woman said she was left with headaches from being punched and stamped to the head and is now scared of big crowds of people and loud noises. She added: “I’m petrified this might happen again.”
She said she’s scared of confrontation, has had panic attacks and said it’s affected her employment as a support worker for people with mental health issues.
Ellis, 38, who has 103 previous convictions and Smith, 19, who has no previous convictions, both of both of Killingworth Avenue, Backworth, North Tyneside, both admitted assault and affray. Ellis also admitted charges of assaulting an emergency worker that day and another day.
Ellis was jailed for 29 months and Smith was sentenced to 13 months suspended for 18 months with 200 hours unpaid work.
Recorder Richard Stubbs said it was an “episode of mindless violence”. He added: “This was a prolonged and persistent assault, including punches and kicks while she was on the floor and, potentially, continuing after she lost consciousness.”
Mark Harrison, for Ellis, said she is sorry for her behaviour, can’t recall saying anything unkind to her daughter and said the footage of the violence which followed is a “source of shame to her”. He added that she suffered violence during the fracas and was left with a wound to her face which was bleeding.
Matthew Purves, for Smith, said she had a difficult upbringing but has qualifications and employment and said of the day of the offences: “It should have been nothing but a joyous event.”
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