Joanne Boyd launched a brick and a cabbage at a man during her 144th criminal offence
Joanne Boyd(Image: Facebook)
A woman launched a brick at a man’s head after he refused to give her money.
Joanne Boyd, 46, attacked the man, who uses a wheelchair, on May 7 this year. As she approached him outside a shop in Openshaw, he told her to ‘stay away from him’ due to previously dealings with her, Manchester Crown Court heard.
Boyd then began shouting at him, and at one stage threw a cabbage at him. The man then moved away from the area but was quickly followed by Boyd who picked up a brick from a nearby skip.
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“She struck him in the head with it,” said prosecutor Andrew MacKintosh. The victim was able to flag down a passing police car, who arranged for him to be taken to hospital. He suffered a swelling to his face, which was later found to be a minor fracture to his cheek.
In CCTV footage, Boyd is seen to run up behind the man as he moves away. She appears to be holding a brick, which she then holds above her head with two hands and hits him with it before he doubles over in pain.
Manchester Crown Court, Crown Square(Image: MEN Media)
Boyd was arrested days later, and initially claimed the victim had used his wheelchair to ‘drive into her legs’. She has since pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and a bail act offence after she failed to appear at a court hearing.
In a statement, the victim said he suffers with blurry vision as a result of his injuries and was worried about going out on his own.
Boyd, who has 83 convictions for 143 offences on her record, which are mostly said to be for shoplifting and antisocial behaviour. She was said to have been in custody for the equivalent of a 10 month sentence.
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Her barrister, Mark Friend, argued that she had suffered with particular difficulties for many years, but her time in prison had helped her remain abstinent from drugs and alcohol.
Sentencing, the Recorder of Manchester, Judge Nicholas Dean KC said: “There is no excuse or mitigation attached to the reasons for what you did.”
Boyd, of Victoria Street, Openshaw, was handed a 15 month suspended prison term, and must complete an alcohol treatment programme and 15 days of rehabilitation activity requirements.