Lurgan mother, who grabbed a woman by the head and hit her head off the ground, is spared jail, Craigavon court hears

Carrie Jordan, aged 33, from Sloan Street, Lurgan, appeared before the court on Wednesday for sentencing after pleading guilty to assault causing actual bodily harm.

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On May 29 last year the victim contacted police claiming she was assaulted by Jordan. She claimed she was messaged by Jordan via Facebook accusing her of “making up stories” so she went to Jordan’s house to “try and make sense” of it.

She claimed the defendant came out of her house and assaulted her by grabbing her head and hitting her head on the ground. Police noted a cut to her lip and an injury to her face. At Craigavon Hospital she was “suspected of having a concussion”.

Jordan’s barrister Mr Conor Lunny said: “There clearly is friction between these two despite what had been a very close friendship at one stage.”

He referred to the Prosecutor’s statement which said the victim went to the defendant’s house to “make sense of what was going on”.

"Can I respectfully suggest that is a very generous way of looking at it. The fact of the matter is that that lady went to the defendant’s house the previous night about 3am in an intoxicated state and was sent away.

"She came back to the defendant’s house the next day and you could probably read between the lines and take the point I am seeking to make that the victim may have been trying to make sense of what was going on but didn’t have to be at that address,” he said.

"What ensued then was an impulsive act and that is the basis of the guilty plea. You will see from the PSR (pre-sentence report), from Miss Jordan’s recollection, that the victim herself didn’t cover herself in glory after the exchange stopped being verbal. There was an alleged spit in her face. That essentially made Miss Jordan react as she did,” said Mr Lunny, adding that it was an “overreaction”.

The barrister said his client offered an apology for her action and is “ashamed” of what happened. “She presents as genuinely remorseful and a young lady who wants to move on with her life,” said Mr Lunny.

“This started off as an immature argument, no doubt online, where increasingly there are words and images exchanged which lead to fall outs in real life,” he said.

District Judge Michael Ranaghan described it as a “nasty enough” attack. “You say there were other reasons behind it and the dreaded social media has some impact as well. I don’t understand a lady with two young children engaging in that sort of behaviour especially a lady, who almost 10 years ago, was convicted of an identical offence."

He said he was obliged to take into account her two children who would be affected if she was to be imprisoned. “You are getting a chance, not because of you but because of your children,” he said sentencing Jordan to seven months in prison suspended for 18 months and ordering her to pay £400 compensation to the victim.