A Bath woman who admitted assaulting six emergency workers expressed her remorse as she was sentenced at Bath Magistrates’ Court.
Five of the offences committed by Victoria St John Howe had taken place at the Royal United Hospital on 26th May where she assaulted two security guards, a police officer and two paramedics.
The court had heard that police assistance had been requested after St John Howe was seen performing an indecent act at the hospital.
The 54-year-old, of Chantry Mead Road, had initially denied the five assaults, as well as pleading not guilty to using threatening, abusive words or behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress outside The Assembly Inn in Bath on 10th March and assaulting a police officer on the same date.
But at a court appearance in August, magistrates were told that following a psychiatric report she had accepted her guilt as although she has “very significant” mental health issues, she had consumed alcohol.
At that hearing, magistrates asked the Probation Service to prepare a pre-sentence report. St John Howe was back in court on Wednesday 1st October to be sentenced.
Her assaults on the two police officers involved spitting at them and prosecutor Kevin Withey told the court that “officers say they would rather be punched in the face than be spat on, it’s vile”.
St John Howe’s solicitor Ned Kemp said she suffers from severe mental health difficulties, “which is like a life sentence in itself”. Her conditions include psychosis, PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and unstable personality disorder.
Mr Kemp asked the magistrates to suspend any sentence they might be considering and “give her the opportunity to get the help she needs and deserves.”
Magistrates told St John Howe that five of the offences she had committed had been whilst on bail, and to be spat at is “abhorrent”.
They ordered her to pay £100 compensation to the two police officers.
They made a 12-month community order with a 12-month mental health treatment requirement with the hope of changing her behaviour patterns.
They also fined St John Howe £180. There was no separate penalty for the other offences.
Distressed and expressing her remorse in the dock for the offences, which she said she could not recall, she told the magistrates: “I can’t turn back time.”
The chair of the bench told her: “We are only looking forward. We can see the remorse.”
