A girl gang attacked a lone woman in Manchester city centre like a ‘pack of wild animals’, a judge said.
Sisters Emma Daly, 25, and Valerie Daly, 21, and Valerie’s then girlfriend Chelsea Leary, 20, were walking along Market Street when they came across the woman talking to a friend who was sleeping rough in a tent.
As the woman knelt down at the tent opening, Valerie charged at her, hit her to the back of the head and dragged her backwards by the hood before the three of them launched a ‘vicious’ attack upon her.
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In CCTV footage played to Manchester Crown Court, Valerie, of Harpurhey, repeatedly punched the woman to the face and dragged her to the ground, Emma ‘stamped’ on her head and body, and Leary punched her and kicked her once.
The incident which took place at around 2am on November 20 came to a brief stop when the three girls walked away, allowing the woman to walk in the opposite direction.
“As the footage shows, Emma Daly can then be seen running back to the scene and kicking and punching the woman again as she goes to the ground,” prosecutor Eleanor Myres said.
“The woman recognised one of the individuals as Emma Daly but was not able to identify the other individuals.
“She described being too disoriented to recall exactly what happened.”
The prosecutor said the three girls were acting as a group, with the Daly sisters playing a ‘leading role’.
The woman did not seek medical attention but was left with cuts, bruising and swelling to her right eye, a black left eye, a graze to her nose and bruising to her ribs.
In a victim personal statement read to the court, the woman said: “I am very grateful the police arrived when they did, if they didn’t I don't know what might have happened.
“These people made my life hell.
“I wouldn’t wish the attack on anybody else.”
Emma Daly, Valerie Daly and Chelsea Leary have all since pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
Emma Daly was said to have eight previous convictions, some of which for assault and resisting arrest; her sister Valerie had two previous convictions for assault occasioning actual bodily harm and assaulting a police officer; and Leary had previous convictions for theft.
Mitigating for Emma Daly, David Bentley said: “Ms Daly was under the misapprehension; she was given information the complainant had bullied a family member of hers. That was coupled with the alcohol she had consumed.
“That information was incorrect.
“Fortunately the injuries were relatively limited in seriousness. It could have been much worse and Ms Daly knows that.
“She suffers from PTSD, anxiety, and depression arising out of a history of abuse. She was completely intoxicated and this affected her behaviour at the time.”
He added that his client is six-and-a-half months pregnant.
Mitigating for Valerie Daly, Brendan O’Leary said: “She is a woman with significant personal difficulties. She was homeless herself.
“She is an adult now and doesn’t appear to have had an opportunity to work with the probation service to try and address the matters.
“The relationship with Chelsea Leary is over.”
Mitigating for Leary, Thomas Worsfold said: “This was unprovoked and unpleasant, and is a serious matter. She had a difficult upbringing too.
Recorder Jeremy Lasker added: “She played the least part in this, there was one punch and one kick.
Mr Worsfold said: “I would respectfully agree.
“She described her own behaviour as shocking and disgusting behaviour.
“She is genuinely remorseful about this.”
Sentencing them, Recorder Jeremy Lasker said: “Your victim was a young woman, known to you and plainly someone who at least one of you bore some grudge or some other feelings that led to this assault.
“She was, at the time of the attack, just simply kneeling down on Market Street engaging in conversation with some acquaintance of hers who was sleeping rough on the streets.
“It was a completely unprovoked group attack upon a defenceless woman.
“It’s really no exaggeration to say you were acting together like a pack of wild animals around their prey.”
Valerie Daly, of Monsall Road, and Emma Daly, of Heywood Street, were both jailed for 14 months imprisonment.
Leary, of Gratrix Road, Ordsall, was handed 12 months imprisonment which was suspended for two years, a three month electronically monitored curfew between 8pm and 7am, 15 days of rehabilitation activity requirements and sessions at the Women’s Problem Solving Court.
An earlier version of this article incorrectly referred to Emma Daly as Emma Leary on one occasion.
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