Telford binge drinking led to street attack

Penny Gonko had drunk two bottles of wine and four Jägerbombs at the Barley Mow in Madeley, Telford, shortly before she bumped into the woman in "a chance encounter", magistrates heard.

Mr Mike Phillips, prosecuting, said Gonko proceeded to insult and attack the woman as she walked to the shops in Madeley High Street at 5.30pm on May 8.

He said the victim was grabbed by the hair and punched a couple of times to the side of her face and was left with three lacerations to the back of her head.

He said that a witness whose house overlooked the scene had come down to separate the two women. She and another male attempted to restrain the 34-year-old Gonko, who swung her right arm and struck the witness on the side of the head.

The witness believed the defendant, who works at a hotel in Telford, had an object in her hand as she punched out and CCTV footage later confirmed that Gonko had dropped something from her hand shortly after the attack.

Gonko, of Botany Bay Close in Aqueduct, Telford, yesterday pleaded guilty to two charges of assault when she appeared at Telford Magistrates Court.

The mother-of-three was given a two-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay £100 compensation to each victim plus a total of £250 court fees. Magistrates heard that Gonko, who had no previous convictions but had received a caution for battery in 2010, could not remember the assault but admitted that she could have been carrying her phone or her purse when she punched her victims.

During a second interview the defendant was shown CCTV of the attack and started to cry, said Mr Phillips.

The court heard that the two women "used to get on" but that Gonko's ex-boyfriend had been "winding her up" with claims that he had slept with the victim.

Mr Jamie Wade, for Gonko, said that "a chance encounter" while intoxicated led to the assault.

"Clearly binge drinking has caused this. If she had not drunk this much it's certain this would not have happened," he said.