A Cardenden woman who chewed off part of a care home worker’s ear after a round-the-clock party has been jailed for a year-and-a-half.
Sheriff Jamie Gilchrist had warned Shan Marshall that she could expect a custodial sentence when a jury at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court convicted her following a three-day trial last month.
The 27-year-old had denied carrying out the eye-watering attack on Chantelle Mitchell.
But the majority of jurors agreed she had assaulted Ms Mitchell, seized her by the body, repeatedly punched her on the head and bitten her on the ear, causing a piece of flesh to detach.
Missing chunk
Earlier in the trial, the jury heard Ms Mitchell had fallen asleep after a day of drinking beer and vodka, but sobered up when she was attacked.
During the first day of the trial, jurors heard how the missing chunk of flesh was never found.
Marshall held her hands up to the court that she threw the first punch in a fight, but stressed she was “100% certain she never bit her.”
The horrific attack left Ms Mitchell “severely injured” and “permanently disfigured.”
Addressing the court earlier in the trial, Ms Mitchell said: “I had gone to sleep and my ear got bitten off. I was awake when it happened.
“I remember Shan leaning in and put her head around me and biting my ear. I had my hands over my face.”
Earlier in the trial, Marshall’s defence solicitor Lee Qumsieh suggested the bite had not happened, to which Ms Mitchell replied: “Well, I can’t just bite my own ear off, can I?”
‘A vicious assault’
Marshall, of Hyndloup Terrace in Cardenden committed the offence at another property in the street on October 5 2019.
Last month, Sheriff Gilchrist said: “You have been convicted of a vicious assault.”
He warned her: “It is extremely likely that the end result is a custodial sentence.”
She was remanded by the Sheriff at the time of the conviction and sentencing had been delayed until June 3 to allow reports to be written up.
Her 18-month custodial sentence has been backdated to the beginning of her spell in custody.
