James Simons-
A woman who permanently blinded a taxi driver in one eye after a frenzied attack with her high heels has been jailed for three years. Georgia Nicholson, 23, of Coleshill, has had her suspended sentence quashed by the Court of Appeal after the Solicitor General referred the original conviction as being unduly lenient.
The court heard that on December 15, 2018, the victim was driving Nicholson and a group of her friends home following a night out. The group had been drinking heavily and when the victim stopped the car as a passenger felt sick, he was subjected to racial abuse before being violently attacked.
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Nicholson, who was 18 at the time, repeatedly tried to hit the victim with her high heels before rupturing his eyeball – leaving him permanently blind in his right eye. Members of the public had to intervene to stop Nicholson’s assault. The Solicitor General Michael Tomlinson KC MP said: “The victim has suffered life-altering injuries and lost his livelihood following the offender’s frenzied and unprovoked attack against someone who was just doing his job.
“The court has rightfully recognized the offender’s brutality in this case and by upgrading the original suspended sentence to jail time should serve as a warning to others that violence like this will not be tolerated.”
Nicholson had originally been sentenced to 24 months’ custody, suspended for two years, with 10 days of rehabilitation activity after she was charged with causing Grievous Bodily Harm with Intent. On August 4, the Court of Appeal increased Nicholson’s sentence to three years imprisonment after it was referred under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme.
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According to the national policy ”where appropriate and where there is a legitimate policing purpose, forces can proactively release information about court outcomes as a way of improving public confidence in the criminal justice system
”Specifically in respect of images, the police, as the legal copyright owner, are responsible for releasing an offender’s custody photograph. The image may be released upon a guilty verdict unless there is a court order or legitimate policing purpose preventing their identification. Images may be released as soon as possible after the verdict to allow the media to publish them contemporaneously (in their next available edition or broadcast). The image can be released again upon sentence if necessary”.
A spokesperson for West Midland police told The Eye Of Media.Com that a risk assessment is being undertaken to determine whether a photograph of the defendant can be released to the media.
There is often the possibility of jailed defendants being subjected to reprisals in the event of such offences, but police take into account the circumstances of the offence, the history of the offender, and the potential for reprisals, in determining whether to release a picture of the defendant.
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