Natasha Conlan, 27, caused £1,200 of damage to a car belonging to her on-off partner’s step-dad last September, Peterlee Magistrates’ Court heard on Monday (June 2).
The expectant mum, of Rydal Drive, Crook, County Durham, could have faced jail time or a large fine but was allowed to walk free from court with a conditional discharge after magistrates heard she’d been working to get her life on track since the incident, and suffered domestic violence.
She pleaded guilty to all three charges against her – two of criminal damage and one of assault by beating.
Prosecutor Paul Doney told the court Conlan went to Malcolm Scott’s house in Crook last September 18 when he heard her in the garden and damaging his car door when he started filming her.
“She then saw him filming and then [threatened] him saying ‘I’m going to get your kids taken off you’ and ‘I’m going to get your windows put out’,” Mr Doney said.
The mum then slapped him across the face, scratched him and said she was “going to gouge his eyes out”. Mr Scott’s glasses were broken and phone screen smashed in the incident.
But Conlan returned less than 12 hours later at about 4am the next morning and caused £1,200 of damage to the car, completely smashing to the front and rear windscreen, breaking off the wing mirror and damaging the bodywork.
Mitigating, Suzanne Hanson told the court Conlan’s on-off partner, the victim’s son, “very much controls her” and she has turned her life around since.
“She is the victim of domestic violence”, Ms Hanson said.
“She reached crisis point and had a break down. She hasn’t been anywhere near Mr Scott since – she judged it not appropriate to speak to him.
“We are talking about a lady who has a huge amount of professional input which she welcomes, and she works with.”
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A probation worker agreed she was already getting much of the help they could have directed her towards, since the offence last year.
After hearing how Conlan has been receiving help from support workers chair of the bench of magistrates Dr Victor Dowd told her: “We believe a conditional discharge is the most appropriate way of dealing with the matters in front of us.”
It will last 18 months meaning if she offends in that time she could be re-sentenced. She will also have to pay compensation of £1,200 for the damage to Mr Scott’s car.
