A South East London woman has been jailed for attacking her partner with a smashed wine bottle after discovering he was a convicted sex offender.
Aisha McConnell attacked her then-partner in Tower Hamlets, East London, twice last November after finding out about his sex offence conviction. In one of the attacks, the 41-year-old, from Crayford, South East London, struck her partner - who she said she was 'deeply in love' with - with a smashed wine bottle.
She has now been jailed for two years and two months for actual bodily harm, wounding, possession of an offensive weapon, and assaulting an emergency worker. In a letter to her sentencing judge, McConnell said she had been with the victim for two years and was 'deeply in love'. However, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard that it was later in their relationship that McConnell discovered her partner was a convicted sex offender.
Prosecutor Rebecca Lee told the court that the man, from South Ockendon in Essex, was convicted of a sex offence in 2021. He was sentenced to a community order as well as a five-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order, though the crime he committed was not described.
In her letter, McConnell said: "I stayed with him, believing his played-down version because I had to believe the man I loved."
The court heard matters escalated during an argument in the early hours of November 9 last year. At 2am, police were called with reports of a woman seen punching a man in the street in Bow, East London, Ms Lee explained.
Officers arrested McConnell after seeing her partner had bruising to his face, though he told officers he had been 'jumped' by three men. She was released under investigation before being arrested again two days later near Shadwell Underground station, after being seen attacking her boyfriend with a broken bottle.
The court was told her partner was taken to hospital with a broken nose and a head wound. This time, he gave a full police interview about the two incidents.
He told officers that on November 9, he had given McConnell a 'light slap' after she repeatedly insulted him, to which she retaliated by headbutting him. Three days later, on November 11, he said McConnell had smashed a wine bottle on the wall and repeatedly struck him with it.
McConnell pleaded guilty to all offences after his police interview was served to her legal team. In her letter to her sentencing judge, she added: "I know what I did to him was horrendous. I do not excuse what I did. I deserve punishment."
She added that the seven months she'd already spent on remand in prison had helped her get her life together. Clementine Simon, mitigating, said her client had faced serious domestic violence in the past, which may have contributed to her reaction when she was slapped.
Ms Simon urged the judge to pass a suspended sentence. She said: "She's lost her home, her pets, her relationship – all of which were really important to her. In my submission, the element of punishment has been served."
But Recorder Leo Seelig concluded that only immediate custody could be justified due to the seriousness of the attacks. Recorder Seelig sentenced McConnell to 26 months in custody, and added: "This wasn't self-defence, it was retaliation motivated by anger."
