A college lecturer and her carer father who viciously attacked another woman after an altercation in a bar in Co Donegal have escaped going to prison.
Victim Rebecca Kennedy was left unconscious after being punched and kicked 13 times in the head by the pair.
Guanitta Brady, aged 30, said she didn’t know where her anger came from after she set upon Ms Kennedy at Market Street in Ballyshannon on February 5 last year.
Her father Gerard, aged 55, of Laughill, Belleek, County Fermanagh, a carer who works in a hospital, also attacked Ms Kennedy after he kicked her in the head.
Both Ms Brady and her father had previously pleaded guilty to the attack at Donegal Town Circuit Court.
A sobbing Ms Kennedy told the court how she could have died in a pool of blood.
“I was nearly beaten to death. I still find it hard to believe that it took three hours for the blood to be taken from my hair.
“When I looked at the CCTV of the incident I could not believe I had survived,” she said.
Guanitta Brady, who has since lost her job as a college lecturer, said she did not know where the anger in her came from when she attacked Ms Kennedy in a drunken rage.
Ms Kennedy said her “life changed forever” after she was repeatedly punched in the head by Brady of Bates Park, Greenisland, County Antrim.
Ms Brady, who had a Phd in Software Engineering and was a lecturer in Belfast Metropolitan College, also admitted assaulting Simon Ferris, the boyfriend of the injured party, on the same date.
In her victim impact statement, Ms Kennedy said she thought she had been in a car accident when she regained consciousness.
“I was hurt so bad I did not believe I would survive. When I woke up in the hospital, I thought I was in a car accident.
“From being a strong, confident and ambitious person, I am a shadow of what I used to be’.
She now suffers from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, had dark nightmares and had spent her savings on medical care.
The court heard earlier that the Bradys had assaulted the victim following an earlier incident in the smoking room of Dicey Reilly’s public house.
The women began fighting resulting in Ms Brady punching Ms Kennedy in the head on thirteen occasions.
Gerard Brady had been drinking heavily when he saw his daughter bleeding from an ear where an earring had been pulled from her ear.
He then confronted Ms Kennedy and this ended up with him kicking her in the head.
Judge John Aylmer said the assaults were of a very vicious nature and were caught on CCTV.
He added that it was only by “extreme good chance” that Ms Kennedy had not suffered more permanent injuries.
He said that both Mr Brady and his daughter had admitted their guilt very early on and both had no previous convictions.
Judge Aylmer said that both had previous good character and had suffered as a result of the publicity form the case and both had lost their jobs.
He said that he deemed that Ms Brady’s attack merited three years in prison but because of her early plea and remorse, he would reduce this to two years.
Having taken her good character and the toll it has taken on her mental health, Judge Aylmer said he was suspending this prison sentence for two years.
In relation to Mr Brady’s sentence, the Judge said the attack merited a sentence of 18 months in prison but also suspended this sentence because of his previous good nature and the fact that he had lost his job.