Attacker hit woman in face with wine glass after victim smiled at her

Sheffield Crown Court heard Rosie Skitt was having after-work drinks in The Chantrey, Woodseats, when she was hit in the face with a wine glass – leaving her ‘cheek hanging off’ and shards of glass narrowly avoiding her eye.

The administrator, from Jordanthorpe, who needs further operations on her face, was accused by 20-year-old Charlotte Green of looking at her in a ‘sarcastic way’ prior to the glassing.

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Rosie said she recognised Green from her sister’s football team when they were younger, and that she smiled across the bar ‘to say hello’.

But Green, of Norton Lees Crescent, Norton Lees, confronted Rosie and asked ‘Do you have a problem with me?’ before striking out with the glass.

The court heard Green was out with friends Hannah Thorpe and Amy Barker on the night of the attack.

Mr Neil Coxon prosecuting, said Ms Thorpe told South Yorkshire Police that Green had ‘got a face on’ and was ‘being mardy about something’.

She said it was ‘typical’ of her friend, who could go from being the ‘life and soul of the party’ to ‘looking for trouble’.

Ms Thorpe said Green, who has no previous convictions, threatened to smash Rosie in the face if she carried on looking at her.

She was warned not to and Ms Thorpe said she told Green that Rosie was one of the nicest people she had met.

But Mr Coxon, prosecuting, said Green walked over to Rosie, challenged her for looking at her and, without warning, struck out with a wine glass.

CCTV footage of the attack was played in court, which drew cries and gasps from the public gallery.

Ms Thorpe, who helped carry out first aid in the pub until emergency services arrived, described the attack as ‘barbaric’ and said that despite loving Green as a friend she could not defend her actions.

Rosie needed 25 stitches after sustaining a 3cm cut to her left cheek, 2cm cut to her eyelid, 1cm cut to her eyebrow, nerve damage to her eye and a laceration to a finger which severed a nerve.

She has undergone a number of operations, including plastic surgery, but is scarred for life.

In her police interview Green, who works in catering, claimed Rosie had been looking at her in a ‘sarcastic way’ and claimed she saw her arm move, which was why she reacted.

Green initially pleaded not guilty to GBH with intent, which can carry a life sentence and was due to stand trial, but the prosecution accepted a lesser charge of GBH, which she admitted, with her legal team arguing that she had not purposely armed herself and claiming it was a spontaneous act.

Dermot Hughes, representing Green, said she was remorseful and had found it difficult to come to terms with what she had done.

Recorder Simon Eckersley described Rosie’s injuries as ‘horrific’.