Monday, 29 April 2019

Student, 19, is suspended from university after attacking a model in the face with a stiletto shoe during 'disgusting brawl' on night out


A 19-year-old student has been suspended from university after attacking a model with her stiletto in a 'unseemly disgusting brawl' on a night out in Chelmsford, Essex.
On November 17 last year, Sophia Withey was out clubbing with her sister at Chelmsford's newly-opened Popworld, to celebrate a friend's birthday.
After leaving the club on Springfield Road however, CCTV captured the moments a brawl broke out on their way to a taxi rank.
After watching the 10-minute-long footage at Chelmsford Crown Court today Judge Emma Peters told Withey: 'You got drunk, you lost your temper, you sat down and took your shoes off and used them as a weapon.'
The victim, self employed model Rebecca Gorecki, suffered a laceration to the face in the attack and says she 'didn't go out for months after the incident'.
Withey has since been suspended from the University of Southampton. where she was just two months into her degree studying Child and Mental health nursing.
Withey, from Juniper Road in Boreham, appeared in court to be sentenced for one count of causing actual bodily harm (ABH).
Carolyn Gardiner, prosecuting, said: 'The complainant in this case is Rebecca Gorecki, a model. She told the police that the evening of Saturday, November 17 last year, she had been out with a friend, her brother's girlfriend, her brother and his friend.
'They left the club and headed for the taxi rank.'
The court was shown graphic CCTV footage of the group walking alongside Argos when the fight broke out.
In Rebecca's statement read out in court, she said: 'They tried to go for us, I pushed them away, I just wanted them to get away from me.
'I remember Sophia coming towards me, I tried to kick her back, I was trying to get away.'
CCTV showed that Rebecca's kick forced Sophia to the ground. She sat on the ground for around 30 seconds before starting to take her stilettos off.
She then stood up and armed with her stilettos, struck Rebecca on the head multiple times.
Ms Gardiner said: 'She removes the shoes she was wearing and she repeatedly tries to go for Rebecca, swinging her shoes towards Rebecca's head.
'She strikes Rebecca, who reacts by putting her hands up to her head.'
Rebecca's statement said: 'I just remember having my head in my hands, feeling blood on my face.'
The court heard how Rebecca was taken to the SOS bus for treatment for a laceration above her eye which needed stitches.
Rebecca's victim impact statement was read aloud to the court by Ms Gardiner.
It continued: ' I am suffering from anxiety following the incident as I have been left with a scar on my face and as I work as a model I feel anxious about this.
'I have been left with a permanent scar on my face, it causes me pain and due to the location of the scar I cannot grow a normal eyebrow.
'I didn't go out for months after the incident because I was so embarrassed about the scar on my face.
'It's unfair that I am left with this permanent mark due to the mindless actions of the defendant.'
The court heard how the self employed model has been offered less work since the the incident.
Caroline Milroy, representing Withey, said: 'She doesn't appear to be the instigator in this incident.
'Ms Withey accepts that she did hit her in the face with the shoe. She is not only remorseful but she is sorry for the injuries caused to Ms Gorecki.
'She wasn't able to take her exams in November and she was not able to return to university since. Her life has been put in limbo.
'She has been suspended form university and she doe not know if she will be removed from her course.'
The court heard how Withey, who has no previous convictions, was awarded a Jack Petchey award in 2016, has undertaken work experience at Broomfield Hospital and was the first in her family to go to university.
Since the incident Withey has been working in a bar three days a week to pay for her rent at her student property in Southampton.
Judge Emma Peters sentenced Withey to a 12-month community order, 140 hours of unpaid work and 20 days rehabilitation activity requirements. She was also ordered to pay her victim £300 in compensation.
Judge Peters said: ' I do not know what your university will do, but your career has been put at risk because of your behaviour on this day.
'This was a drunk, disgusting and ugly brawl between you and this other woman that went on for a sustained period of time.
'You got drunk, you lost your temper, you sat down and took your shoes off and used them as a weapon.
'The CCTV does paint a picture of a really ugly and unseemly brawl. All the references back up that this was out of character.
'Given your guilty plea and given your lack of previous convictions I do give you credit but being drunk is no excuse.'


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Location: London, UK

Thursday, 25 April 2019

Mother, 39, has 38 CHILDREN with six sets of twins, four sets of triplets and five sets of quadruplets - including six babies who tragically did not survive - due to unusually large ovaries



Mariam Nabatanzi gave birth to twins a year after she was married off at the age of 12. Five more sets of twins followed - along with four sets of triplets and five sets of quadruplets.
Three years ago, however, the 39-year-old Ugandan was abandoned by her husband, leaving her to support their surviving 38 children alone.
It was just the latest setback in a life marred by tragedy for Nabatanzi, who lives with her children in four cramped houses made of cement blocks and topped with corrugated iron in a village surrounded by coffee fields 50 km (31 miles) north of Kampala.
After her first sets of twins were born, Nabatanzi went to a doctor who told her she had unusually large ovaries. He advised her that birth control like pills might cause health problems. So the children kept coming.
Family sizes are at their largest in Africa. In Uganda, the fertility rate averages out at 5.6 children per woman, one of the continent's highest, and more than double the global average of 2.4 children, according to the World Bank.
But even in Uganda, the size of Nabatanzi's family makes her an extreme outlier.
Her last pregnancy, two and a half years ago, had complications. It was her sixth set of twins and one of them died in childbirth, her sixth child to die.
Then her husband - often absent for long stretches - abandoned her. His name is now a family curse. Nabatanzi refers to him using an expletive.
'I have grown up in tears, my man has passed me through a lot of suffering,' she said during an interview at her home, hands clasped as her eyes welled up. 'All my time has been spent looking after my children and working to earn some money.'
Desperate for cash, Nabatanzi turns a hand to everything: hairdressing, event decorating, collecting and selling scrap metal, brewing local gin and selling herbal medicine. The money is swallowed up by food, medical care, clothing and school fees.

On a grimy wall in one room of her home hang proud portraits of some of her children graduating from school, gold tinsel around their necks.

'Mum is overwhelmed, the work is crushing her, we help where we can, like in cooking and washing, but she still carries the whole burden for the family. I feel for her,' said her eldest child Ivan Kibuka, 23, who had to drop out of secondary school when the money ran out. 

Nabatanzi's desire for a large family has its roots in tragedy.

Three days after she was born, Nabatanzi's mother abandoned the family: her father, the newborn girl and her five siblings.

'She just left us,' said Nabatanzi sombrely, as some of her ragged children played on the dirt floor while others did chores.
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Location: England, UK
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