A WOMAN has told a jury she was grabbed by the hair and kicked in the face during a Christmas night out in Carlisle.
Giving evidence at the city’s crown court today (THURS), Abby Tolson spoke of being out with work colleagues and friends on December 16 last year, when an incident occurred outside the Griffin pub, Court Square, at around 4-45am.
Someone shouted “long time, no see”, said Miss Tolson. She turned and said she saw Georgia Gray and her older sister, both of whom she knew.
Miss Tolson spoke of having been in a long-term relationship, and of learning several months after they split in 2018 that the man in question was involved with Georgia Gray.
Jurors read Facebook messages exchanged in October between the women in which Gray stated she “wanted to say sorry”, “never intentionally tried to upset you and had no idea, so sorry”. Miss Tolson understood these comments related to another matter.
Of the December incident, Miss Tolson told jurors: “Georgia grabbed me by my hair, pulled me down and then kicked me in the face.” She spoke of falling to the floor and being kicked again, of Gray wearing “sportswear”, and recalled: “My eyes were swollen. I couldn’t see much. I was distraught.”
Gray, 22, denies one charge alleging an actual bodily harm assault.
During cross-examination, Miss Tolson insisted she “wasn’t very drunk” at the time, and disagreed with a suggestion she was drunk.
Holly Nelson, for Gray, of Spencer Street, Carlisle, said to Miss Tolson: “You are suggesting it is Georgia Gray who was assaulting you. I am suggesting it might have been a man who assaulted you.”
Miss Tolson – who denied lying about who was responsible out of “vengeance” – responded: “No.”
The trial continues.
