A MAN was attacked with a baseball bat and his sister assaulted when two women turned violent on a Whitehaven driveway.
Lisa Marie Atkinson, 40, and 49-year-old Patricia Jane Bristoe approached a Lakeland Avenue address at around 4-30pm on June 27 last year. Inside were siblings Cassie and Calvin Moore, who went out after Atkinson used a baseball bat to smash a car headlight.
“Lisa Atkinson gave the bat to Patricia Bristoe who started to wave it around in a reckless fashion in the vicinity of Calvin Moore,” prosecutor Arthur Gibson told Carlisle Crown Court. “That caused the bat to strike him in the face.” He was left bloodied, bruised and suffered tooth damage.
Atkinson grabbed Cassie Moore, “ragged her around and punched her in the face”, after learning her own car had been damaged. “Because there was a history of animosity which had developed since the death of the Moores’ father, with whom Miss Atkinson had a relationship, she believed it was Cassie Moore (responsible),” said Mr Gibson.
Atkinson and Bristoe, both of Fell View Avenue, Whitehaven, later admitted affray. Bristoe also admitted offensive weapon possession.
Both were said to be sorry, and neither had been in trouble since the incident. Jamie Baxter, for Atkinson, said the single mother of a teenage son was in employment, adding: “She works hard to support him and the family household.”
Anthony Parkinson, for Bristoe, said she suffered from mental health difficulties and was currently unemployed.
Each defendant had a six-month jail term suspended for 12 months, Atkinson also receiving 100 hours’ unpaid work, and Bristoe a three-month night-time curfew.
“This was a particularly ugly incident,” said Recorder Peter Atherton. “You should not and cannot take the law into your own hands in this way, causing the distress which you did cause.”
Recorder Atherton also told Atkinson: “It seems that a wholly irrational red mist descended upon you, through which you were unable or unwilling to see that your actions were completely inappropriate and illegal.”
Both Atkinson and Bristoe were banned having any contact with the Moores for five years.
