York mother left with ‘very serious’ injuries after partner smashed a beer glass in her face

A woman’s nose was almost hanging off after her partner smashed a beer glass in her face, a court heard.

The named victim was struck in the face with the pint glass after a blazing row with her “on-off” boyfriend David Andrew White, a jury at York Crown Court was told.

Prosecutor Helen Towers said the vicious, drunken attack occurred in the early hours of the morning at the woman’s flat in York after White and the victim had been drinking.

She said the victim walked out of the living room, apparently to get away from White and “de-escalate” the situation, but he followed her into a bedroom.

He asked the victim for a cigarette and when she refused, he smashed the beer glass in her face.

When police arrived at the property, the tip of the victim’s nose was “no longer connected to the rest of her nose”, said Ms Towers.

The bloodied victim told police that White, 37, had “swung his arm back” and then either “smashed the glass in my face” or thrown it at her after smashing up items inside her apartment.

She said he had called her a deeply offensive name before doing so which deeply upset her.

“He was trying to hurt her feelings, emotionally wound her,” added Ms Towers.

The victim, who is a mother, was taken to York Hospital for treatment to “very serious” injuries including a shocking nose wound which needed stitching.

White, 37, of Chapelfields Road, York, was arrested and charged with wounding with intent to do grievous harm. He denied the allegation but admitted a separate offence of wounding without intent.

The prosecution didn’t accept his plea and took the case to trial on the allegation of wounding with intent.

‘A lot of emotion and drink’

Prosecuting barrister Ms Towers urged the jury to discount White’s unlikely claim that he was defending himself against the victim after she allegedly attacked him.

She said it was White who was the aggressor during the argument in which a TV and mirror was thrown onto the floor.

White, who has previous convictions for driving matters and a caution to his name for theft from a dwelling, claimed he had pushed or punched the victim during a scuffle and forgot he had the glass in his hand.

His solicitor advocate Kevin Blount said that while White accepted he had done wrong and admitted wounding, he denied intent to do her extreme serious harm.

He said there was “a lot of emotion and drink” on the night in question and “someone lost their temper”.

White, who suffered cuts to his own hand from the broken glass, said he had “no intention to cut the victim or cause her injury and I regretted it immediately”.

The incident, on the evening of 3 November last year or the early hours of the following morning, was the culmination of an ill-fated, “on-off” relationship.

The victim said White became angry and moody after drinking too much but that he tried to help her after the attack and was “very upset” and apologetic.

The jury found White not guilty of wounding with intent on a majority verdict after deliberating for several hours.

However, he is still to be sentenced for unlawful wounding which he admitted before the trial.

Judge Simon Hickey said he felt that the victim had been a “credible, honest” witness and that he did not believe that White had acted in self-defence, much less that the woman had smashed up her own home.

He said it must have been “extremely distressing” for a young woman to suffer such an injury to her nose which would be permanent. White was remanded in custody until sentence on 20 March.