A woman left her homeless victim with a permanent scar after stabbing her with a broken wine glass before fleeing to Ireland.
Keisha Harty angrily flipped over a table before launching herself at the complainant during a boozy New Year's Eve party. She then went on the run for nearly a year before finally being brought to justice when she was caught shoplifting.
Liverpool Crown Court heard today, Friday, that Anna Rudolf was at her home on Tudor Road in Rock Ferry, Wirral, with her two young children at around 8pm on December 31 2019 when her neighbours Tracey Morgan and the 26-year-old defendant knocked on her door. Neil Bisarya, prosecuting, said the pair had been drinking and had brought alcohol with them - with the former having taken her four-year-old son to the address.
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After the kids had been put to bed, a man called Robert Murray brought Nicola Hilton to the house shortly before midnight. She had recently been made homeless and had been sleeping on the sofas of friends.
The guest had been "getting on well with everyone", but Harty began arguing with her and shouting and swearing while sat at a table with Ms Rudolf and Ms Morgan shortly after 3am on New Year's Day. Ms Hilton, who was stood next to the table opposite her, "did not respond".
"Suddenly and without warning", Harty flipped the dining table and began attacking her by grabbing her hair - pulling out clumps despite the interventions of others. The pair were eventually separated, but after Ms Hilton retreated to the kitchen Harty picked up a wine glass which had been smashed during the scuffle, "lunged forward" at her and struck her in the face with the implement.
She then fled the property along with Ms Morgan and Mr Murray. Ms Hilton suffered a "deep laceration to the right side of her face which was bleeding profusely", and was taken to hospital requiring a skin graft and 21 stitches.
Harty, now of Highfield Road in Rock Ferry, was arrested at 9pm the same day and claimed under interview that she had left the scene at 2am. After being confronted with CCTV evidence showing her leaving a minute before police and paramedics were called, she stated that "everyone was fighting with each other" but continued to deny having assaulted Ms Hilton and "could not explain" why her blood had been left on her leggings.
Ms Bisarya said the victim had been left "traumatised" by the incident and "can't walk down the street without the fear of being attacked", also worrying that others will stare at a permanent scar she has been left with as a result of the attack. After being charged with and pleading not guilty to wounding with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm, Harty failed to appear in court when released on bail and a warrant was issued for her arrest in July last year.
Two trials scheduled for that month and July 2022 did not go ahead due to her absence. She had instead absconded to Ireland, where she was jailed for shoplifting in April 2022.
Harty - who has four previous convictions for six offences - was extradited back to the UK on October 11 after serving this sentence and changed her plea to guilty, as well as admitting breaching court bail. Tom Challinor, defending, said: "Ms Harty understands what she is to be sentenced for and she accepts what she is to be sentenced for - it is a courageous plea and one which spares the victim the final ordeal of being put through a contested trial.
"The offence is completely out of character. What seems to have gone wrong for Ms Harty is that she became involved in two relationships, one after the other, which were particularly difficult.
"That is an understatement. They were physically violent and emotionally traumatic relationships.
"The first come to an end in about 2015 when Ms Harty was still quite young. She came to England, where her father lives, to secure a fresh start.
"But she walked straight into a second abusive relationship. That came to an end, finally, last October.
"Very serious threats were made against her by her partner, and she was housed in accommodation out of the city to get her away from that man. This man found out where she was living.
"It was shortly after that Ms Harty disappeared. That man persuaded her to cut off her her electronic tag and go to Ireland with him.
"All of that, the physical and mental abuse, has deeply traumatised her. She found herself in the grip of a drug addiction.
"It was against that background, and in the chaos of addiction to heroin and crack cocaine, that she found herself behaving in the way that she did on that New Year's Eve. The woman that appears before you today is not the same woman who caused those terrible injuries - she has the support to keep her on the right track when eventually released."
Harty, who appeared via video link to HMP Styal, was jailed for five-and-a-half years this afternoon. She must serve two thirds of this sentence before being eligible for release on licence, while Judge Gary Woodhall also imposed an indefinite restraining order.
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