A couple involved in an attack on a young mum which left her face and speech so distorted that her baby did not recognise her have been spared jail.
Peter McCann and his girlfriend Abbie Green lashed out at the victim and her partner – both strangers to the pair – during an unprovoked assault at Marden railway station.
Having been subjected to a flurry of punches, the woman suffered a black eye and a double fracture to her jaw which later required two operations to repair.
She was reduced to a liquid diet for three months post-surgery and struggled to care for her daughter, who was said to cry if she tried to hold her or talk to her.
The youngster’s reaction was so distressing it even caused the mum to fear the impact it may have on the bonding process, Maidstone Crown Court heard.
In statements made to police, the victim also described the ongoing physical and psychological affects the violence had had on her, to the extent that she had to give up her college studies and a previous eating disorder was triggered.
But although McCann and Green both faced being locked up at their sentencing hearing this week, they walked from the dock.
In a lengthy explanation as to why McCann in particular had been spared immediate imprisonment, the judge cited his age and immaturity at the time, as well as his neurodiversity and the effect the almost four-year delay in criminal proceedings had had on him.
In conclusion, he said the 23-year-old – now a dad himself and working with his uncle as a landscaper – had “earnt the chance” being given to him by the court.
McCann, formerly from Ashford but now living in Maple Leaf Drive, Lenham, had admitted offences of causing grievous bodily harm with intent and assault causing actual bodily harm.
Green, 21 and of the same address, pleaded guilty to affray.
The court heard they were aged 19 and 17 respectively at the time of the violent incident on May 23, 2021.
Prosecutor Peter Allman said McCann had a bottle of vodka with him and was “plainly under the influence of alcohol”.
Not only was he being aggressive to his partner but also to his brother who was with them that evening.
The victim and her boyfriend, reported at the time to be teenagers themselves, were only at the station however as they had caught the wrong train home from London, the court was told.
A row then broke out between McCann and Green in which she pushed him to the ground and he chased and punched her in response.
But McCann then turned his attention to the couple, with his brother and Green also wading in as the violence erupted.
“The victims had taken shelter on platform one and saw the altercation,” explained Mr Allman.
“Peter McCann took issue with the pair because he thought the man was laughing at him and he (McCann) called him a c***.”
McCann then began to approach him “aggressively”, at which point the woman stood between them.
It was as she made what was described as “pre-emptive contact” with McCann that he lashed out.
“She was punched multiple times to the face and he also called her ‘a f****** b****’,” added the prosecutor.
The court heard Green and McCann’s sibling joined in, with the two brothers also repeatedly punching and kicking the male victim who suffered a cut lip and a bloody nose as a result.
The entire incident was captured on CCTV and at one stage moved perilously close to the platform edge.
It also showed Green, after her initial involvement, trying to split the men up.
She could be seen crying in the dock as the woman’s victim impact statements were read out by the prosecutor.
Having had one operation she had to undergo a second three months later in which the titanium plate was replaced and a bone graft required, resulting in the need for a liquid diet for a second time as she recovered.
The woman said she was left in “considerable pain” for months, with the injury changing the shape of her face and jawline.
“The assault has had a considerable emotional impact,” she wrote. “My face was so distorted and my speech distorted that my baby didn’t recognise me.”
Explaining her fears regarding any impact on the mother-baby bond, the mum added: “I was unable to hold my baby and I found it difficult to speak for several weeks. I found this very upsetting.
“My baby used to get upset when I talked to her or tried to pick her up because she didn’t recognise me or my voice.”
The court heard the victim also suffered psychologically with loss of confidence, anxiety and low self-esteem.
She could no longer travel on a train, struggled to leave her home and feared being attacked again.
Referring to not being able to start her college course, she added: “I’m not where I want to be in terms of training and future employment.
“I feel opportunities have been lost and my life has gone in a different direction to the one I wanted it to go.”
Following their arrests, McCann gave a ‘no comment’ interview while Green denied hitting the woman.
Although both defendants were of previous good character before the incident, the court was told McCann had been subsequently convicted in August 2022 of assaulting an emergency worker and criminal damage.
But his barrister Amy Nicholson said the man in the dock on Wednesday (January 22) “bore no comparison” to the one at the train station.
Urging the court to take an “exceptional course” and spare him immediate custody, she explained he no longer drank alcohol, was working and, having “reunited” with Green, became a parent in September last year with the birth of their daughter.
Ms Nicholson also detailed his difficult upbringing within the traveller community, with an alcoholic mother and a disrupted education interspersed with being bullied, as well as his dyslexia, ADHD and his “severe mental anguish” at the time of the violent episode.
“These offences were truly out of character. In all regards, the real Peter McCann is seen by everyone to be a quiet, shy, polite, well-mannered young man who is helpful to others and there is much good within him,” she told the hearing.
“He really bears no relation to the person he was.”
Referring to his daughter’s birth, Ms Nicholson continued: “It has brought home to him with vigour the need to be responsible and provide both emotional and financial support and be a good role model.
“This is a young man who has displayed to all real, true, genuine remorse….He truly feels horror and revulsion at his conduct on the day in question.
“The alcohol is not an excuse but goes some way in explaining why he behaved in such a reprehensible way. The red mist descended.
“He cannot explain or even rationalise why he behaved as he did, save he was in crisis and under the influence.”
The court was also told his ADHD and dyslexia led to depression and self-medication with alcohol.
But Ms Nicholson added McCann had shown in the intervening years “true determination” to address his offending behaviour and rehabilitate himself, and that sending him to prison now would be “a punishment that serves no purpose”.
Craig Evans, defending Green, said the incident was “an aberration” in her life and “very much the exception, not the rule”.
He added she had since ” progressed and matured”, given up alcohol, obtained employment and become a mum.
The barrister also argued that had Green been dealt with by the courts at the time of the offence, she would have simply been given a referral order by reason of her age.
“She has demonstrated this was an entirely isolated incident and has matured significantly,” said Mr Evans, urging that she should now be given a conditional discharge.
“There is genuine remorse. Her involvement, not insignificant but comparatively minor, and the force used by her was comparatively small.
“And after her initial involvement, she could be seen pulling people apart….It was very much an aberration.”
Passing sentence on the pair, having retired for an hour to consider the appropriate penalty, Judge Philip St.John-Stevens remarked the case had caused “considerable concern”.
He said that while there was a need to “evaluate what was a violent attack”, sentencing of young adults aged 18 to 25 required “a distinct approach”.
Handing Green a two-year conditional discharge, he said he had taken her age at the time and the efforts she had made since into account.
Judge St.John-Stevens also told her that although the incident involved “violence delivered in the extreme”, her part in it was “unlikely to have caused significant injury”.
Furthermore, even though she now accepted she should not have used any force, the CCTV had also shown her trying to stop the assault, he added.
In deciding McCann’s fate, Judge St.John-Stevens told the court the impact on the female victim was “acute and ongoing” both psychologically and physically, adding that “had the clock not moved on” he would have faced a period in prison “measured in years”.
But, taking account of factors including his cognitive age and immaturity at the time, together with the link between his behaviour and his mental health, as well as genuine “shame and remorse”, the lengthy delay, and the “considerable steps” taken to “develop a positive character”, McCann was told a spell behind bars could be avoided.
Imposing a two-year jail term suspended for two years, the judge said: “As your counsel put it far more succinctly than I have or have attempted to do, you are a different person to when you were, as we all saw, at the railway station in Marden on May 23, 2021.
“I watched you watch that video (CCTV) and I could see a man who had matured and was ashamed and disgusted and, perhaps, could not quite believe what they was watching was them.
“But for your age then and everything I have outlined, you would have gone to prison for a significant period of time measured in a large number of years.
“I’m effectively giving you a chance because you have earned it. You have got a job, you have put alcohol behind you and you have matured.”
McCann was warned however that the custodial element of the suspended sentence would be activated if he re-offends in the next two years.
He was also ordered to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work and up to 20 rehabilitation activity requirements, as well as pay his victim £1,000 compensation within a year.
Both McCann and Green had entered their guilty pleas by October 2023 but no reason for the delay in proceedings from arrest to charge and first court appearance was given during the sentencing hearing.
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