Woman admits pulling fellow mum’s braids out and smashing glasses during school run attack

A school run row escalated into a savage attack, with one mum ripping out another’s braids and stamping on her glasses, a court heard today.

Carly Naine, 38, encountered the woman after both had dropped their children to school in Moulsecoomb in January this year.

Prosecuting at Brighton Magistrates Court today, Chandula Dassanayake said the victim, Mica Midgley, was walking to the bus stop in Hodshrove Road when she saw Naine.

He said: “Naine said, ‘Don’t you fucking look at me.’ Ms Midgley responded and the defendant walked towards her and pulled her glasses off her face with one hand and grabbed hard on the victim’s braids with her other hand.

“She punched her a couple of times in the face, and bit her finger. She pulled the braids from her head and threw them on the ground and stamped on her glasses.

“A member of the public intervened to calm the situation and had to physically restrain the defendant from going back to the victim.”

Defending, Chris Chatterton said the police had also recorded injuries to Naine, including black eyes and scratches to her arms and fingers.

He said: “I would suggest this isn’t a one sided attack. The parties are known to each other. There’s some history between them, but I don’t propose to go into that here.

“Miss Naine accepts she pushed the complainant in the fact. It was then that the complainant grabbed her mobile phone to stop her calling the police.

“Miss Naine’s head was pulled down. She accepts she pulled the complainant’s hair. She accepts she shouldn’t have behaved in the way she did.”

There was some discussion over how much damage Naine’s attack had caused. The court heard in her statement to police, Ms Midgley said the braids were worth £300, the glasses £400 and she had lost one day’s work, worth £100.

In her victim impact statement, she said the braids were worth £500, the glasses £800 and she had lost two days’ work, or £200.

Chair of the bench Helen Scott sentenced Naine, of Birdham Road, Brighton, to 12 month community order, to include 12 rehabilitation activity requirement days, and ordered her to pay £100 compensation to Ms Midgley.