Sisters and friend left woman blind after unprovoked attack on night out in Yorkshire
Three sisters and their friend who attacked a woman after they were refused entry to a bar have been sentenced.
Toni Lee Patterson and her sisters Ellie and Abbie were on a night out in Scarborough in the early hours of the morning in October 2023 when they were refused entry to the bar.
As they walked away, they began to attack a woman who was not known to them who had just bought food from a nearby takeaway.
The woman was punched and kicked until she was unconscious and lay on the ground motionless, when they continued to punch and kick her head and body.
Ellie Patterson, 20, of Springfield Road in Scarborough, was the first to attack the woman - grabbing her by the hair, punching her and dragging her across the pavement.
Her sister Toni, 32, of Cross Street, also in Scarborough, joined in and grabbed hold of the victim’s hair, before the pair dragged her towards the road, where she fell into the carriageway as a friend tried to protect her.
Ellie Patterson, 19, also of Springfield Road, kicked the victim in her back while she was lying in the road unable to move as Toni stamped on the victim’s head twice and kicked her in the face as Abbie stood over her motionless body.
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Members of the public began to congregate, with some trying to protect the victim, but Toni pushed through the crowd and kicked her in the head again.
Stott, who had not been involved at this point other than during the disturbance with the doormen at the bar, then began to push people out the way.
At this point the victim tried to raise her head off the floor, appearing dazed, before Toni Patterson again kicked her in the head with full force. Ellie Patterson then kicked the victim to the body.
A mass brawl broke out and as witnesses tried to give first aid to the victim, Stott pushed through the crowd and kicked the victim in her back. Despite attempts by door staff to restrain her, she repeatedly kicked out and spat at them.
The victim was taken to hospital for treatment to a facial fracture and a bleed on her brain. She was already blind in her left eye and this attack has left her partially sighted in her right eye.
All four women admitted affray, while Toni and Ellie Patterson also admitted wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
Toni was jailed for eight years, while Ellie was sentenced to seven years and three months in a Young Offenders Institute. Ellie was given a suspended sentence, while Tania Stott was jailed for a year.
Investigating officer, Police Staff Investigator Paul Thompson, of Scarborough CID, said: “This shocking and unprovoked attack has changed the victim’s life forever, not only has she lost most of her sight, she has to rely on her family to do the most simplest of tasks.
“The four defendants had the audacity to claim it was out of character because they were drunk. There is simply no excuse whatsoever for what they did and the very least they could do was to plead guilty to this disgusting act of unprovoked violence.
“In a statement read out at court the victim said that she daily grieves for the ‘old me’ that she will never see again and that she doesn’t know what the future holds for her and misses being able to do the basic things she once took for granted.
“I applaud her bravery. She must now face the future almost blind, not to mention the psychological trauma she has endured through no fault of her own. But she has the support of those around her and I’m sure she will succeed, despite the ordeal that she has gone through.
“The four women are now rightly facing the consequences of their behaviour.”
The victim also praised the emergency services in her statement thanking the police, the ambulance service, the hospital, specialists and nursing staff who “got me through the worse time of my life.”