by A mum said she ‘felt sick’ as she tried to watch CCTV footage of herself launching a drunken attack on a woman in her stilettos on a night out.
Ellie Brown left the victim permanently blind in one eye after the ‘horrific’ attack in Liverpool city centre, reports the Liverpool Echo. In court she was played footage of the altercation, which showed her repeatedly hitting her victim in the face with her high heels after an argument erupted in the street.
The carer cried and said: “I feel sick to be honest with you. Being a mother, looking at that, it’s not nice.” As she was then shown photographs of her victim’s injuries, she said: “It’s horrible, especially that picture. I’d rather not look at that photograph again please.”
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Brown said she had ‘no recollection of the attack’ and that he had ‘just gone to help her sister’. A judge jailed her when he said the circumstances of the case “show how so many lives can be destroyed by drunken violence”.
Yesterday (August 28) Liverpool Crown Court heard how the complainant, Sylwia Lukowska, was in the city center with her friend Dominic Bennett shortly before 5.30am on March 13, 2022, when the complainant began to urinate on a set of valves outside of the premises. on Navy Street. Meanwhile Brown, of Gray Street in Bootle, was out drinking with his sister and two men.
When Mr Bennett tried to calm himself down, the defendant’s sibling was said to have shouted ‘get your *** off’. Michael O’Brien, prosecuting, described how this sparked a scuffle which saw the sister and the assault victim hit the ground.
Brown then tried to get Ms Lukowksa a ‘good chance’ with her orange stilettos, but hit Mr Bennett instead. The 27-year-old then proceeded to club the married mother in the head with her high heels.
‘Miss Lukowska immediately covered her eyes and stopped moving’ at this point. Brown’s high heels were sent ‘flying’ during this initial attack, but she managed to retrieve one of her shoes and resumed the attack before being restrained by Mr Bennett and a member of the public.
In the meantime the injured woman was ‘safely transported’ and the police found the 43-year-old at the time to be ‘barely responsive’ when attending the scene. While being transported to the Royal Liverpool Hospital, Mr Bennett saw Brown’s group as the ambulance passed the Tesco supermarket on Hanover Street.
This led to the deployment of PCs to the scene and the arrest of the defendant. Interviewed at St Anne’s Street Police Station, she told officers she had consumed ‘four doubles, a steamboat and four vodkas’ and had smoked cannabis earlier in the day.
Miss Lukowska suffered a broken right eye socket during the incident, when one of the blows hit her eyelid, and she remained in hospital for three days. It is not expected that she will ever recover the vision in her right eye and she has not been able to return to work since.
After undergoing surgery in May last year to improve the appearance of the injuries, she is currently awaiting further cosmetic surgery. Brown has no previous convictions.
Olivia Beesley, defending, told the court: “This is a sad, sad offence. It’s sad for the victim, sad for the victim’s family and it’s also sad for Ms Brown and her family.
“This was completely out of character for Ms Brown as a young, hard-working and usually kind, considerate mother of a 10-year-old daughter. This is in stark contrast to the way she has lived up to now .that day in 2022.
“She comes from a stable, secure background. Although her daughter is at a young age, she completed her GCSEs and has always been driven in her career goals and has worked for the past six years as a community care worker.
“Not only has she been in that role for six years while raising her daughter, she has played an active role in volunteering at a local mental health support cafe. Her manager has described how kind and caring she is in that role and how she goes out of her way to take care of people.
“She is generous and determined to provide for others, which makes her behavior that evening all the more appalling. She was drunk, and this may have clouded her maturity and judgement. at that time.
“Although Ms Brown has her mother’s support in looking after her child, it will obviously have a big impact on her daughter.”
‘In any view, the circumstances of this case are extremely tragic’
Brown admitted causing grievous bodily harm with intent. She wept tearfully as she was jailed for five years and four months before saying ‘thank you’, while supporters in the public gallery said ‘I love you’ to her as she was led down to the cells.
Sentencing, the Honorary Registrar of Liverpool, Judge Andrew Menary KC, said: “It is clear that everyone had been drinking and you were clearly under the influence of alcohol.
“Your sister saw his actions, and it seems she took exception to what he was doing. This led to some sort of dispute between your sister and the victim, which resulted in both of them scuffling with some hair pulling.
“They both ended up falling to the floor. There’s no sign that your sister was getting any worse at this scuffle. She was, for most of the time, on top of Miss Lukowska.
“This was all very unifying behaviour, but it is sadly typical of the behavior seen after a night out in the center of this city. The men were trying to pull people apart, and that’s how it should have ended .
“However, for no good reason, you have repeatedly used your shoes to attack the now vulnerable Ms Lukowska. I have seen CCTV footage which clearly shows your determination to beat her on the face with the heel of your shoe, despite being pushed or pulled away by one or more men.
“On two separate occasions, you attacked your victim and hit her repeatedly with the heel of your shoe. These were clearly targeted blows to the person with a shoe that you were deliberately holding in a way that would cause the most harm.
“One blow caused an injury to Ms Lukoswka’s right eyelid, splitting her eye socket and permanently damaging the function of the right eyelid. More seriously, the eye itself was injured and, as a result, she is now completely permanently blind i.” one eye
“Despite urgent medical intervention, not much can be done now to improve this outcome. She has been unable to work since the incident, and the effects are likely to be long-term on her and her family.
“In any view, the circumstances of this case are extremely tragic – especially for Miss Lukowska, but for you as well. The circumstances show how so many lives, in so many ways, can be ruined, destroyed or ruined by drunken violence arising from stupid arguments or perceived slights after a good night out.
“I have seen written references for you which state that you are a well-behaved and responsible person, in all other situations and generally. You have a 10-year-old daughter and, throughout your adult life, you have had a daughter. yes you are in gainful employment with a community care body You have also worked in a charity cafe.
“All of this shows that this behavior was completely out of character. I assume that you now deeply regret what you did, but you also recognize – as everyone who considers this situation must – that the circumstances so serious that there must be a long custodial sentence, designed to punish you for the harm you deliberately did that night.”
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