A six-foot lout who “rag-dolled” a shop manager after she was caught shoplifting has been spared jail.
Allison Morgan, 32, was handed mandatory supervision and ordered to perform unpaid work after she was convicted of a brutal attack on Shanice Cameron.
Sheriff Brian Mohan told her that “she needed structure” in her life and that he was prepared to hand her a community-based sentence instead of sending her to prison.
A trial at Paisley Sheriff Court heard how Morgan pounced on Ms Cameron, who challenged her in the car park at Phoenix Retail Park for stealing items from Pets at Home.
Morgan attacked Ms Cameron by grabbing her by her hair and swinging her from side to side in front of horrified passers-by.
The court heard clumps of the victim’s hair were pulled out of her scalp, and she was left with a cut next to her left eye after Morgan rained blows on her during the onslaught.
Morgan, who is around 6ft tall, grabbed 5ft 4in Ms Cameron, in her 20s, by her hair on the morning of November 17 last year after she confronted her over stealing a bag containing trays of dog food.
The victim said: “She grabbed my hair. I asked her to let go of the bag. She was shouting things at me. There was a struggle. I think my hair was grabbed again.
“I remember another customer finally ripped my hair out of her hand.
“There was a significant patch of my hair missing. I was scratched on the left side of my face.
“I had to go to hospital because I couldn’t move my neck. I was unable to go back to work because I was unable to move my neck.”
The victim added she felt “shocked” and “scared” by Morgan’s ferocity.
The trial heard defiant Morgan of Birch Place, Renfrew, claimed Ms Cameron had been armed with a knife and she feared she was being mugged in the car park.
She told the trial: “She had a knife and she was trying to rob me.
“I didn’t know she was a shop worker. I thought I was being attacked.
“She was a wee smout. That’s why she got rag-dolled.”
She also claimed she only turned to stealing because she “could not survive" on her benefits
Earlier today, she appeared for sentencing after she was found guilty of charges assaulting the complainer and shoplifting at the trial before Sheriff Brian Mohan.
The court had requested background reports in preparation for handing her the disposal.
Defence agent Anthony Boland told how his client “was maintaining her position” as she had throughout the trial in that she believes she is innocent, despite her conviction.
He added that Morgan is a “socially isolated” person who finds it difficult to relate to other people and that she struggles with financial difficulties, finding it especially hard to scrape by on benefits.
He said: “She has had to cope with financial difficulties and turned to shoplifting as her way of surviving.
“She is a socially isolated person who may benefit from a community payback order with supervision.”
Sheriff Mohan, who studied background reports prior to sentencing, told her: “I think that you need structure in your life.
“You are someone who is socially isolated and suffers from not having others in your life.
“Clearly you do not react well to situations of stress.”
He sentenced her to 18 months of mandatory supervision by the local authority where he will attend appointments as requested.
She was also ordered to perform 150 hours of unpaid work within 12 months.
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