Woman denies savage beating

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Woman denies savage beating

A LERWICK woman infected with hepatitis C has denied savagely beating a woman in her own living room, assaulting three policemen and spitting on a doctor.Fiona Manson, 34, a prisoner at Cornton Vale, is standing trial before a jury at Lerwick Sheriff Court on seven charges relating to events on two separate occasions in the summer.Unusually for a trial, she has been representing herself in court after failing to appoint a solicitor.The Crown alleges that Miss Manson lost the head on Dr Russon when she attended Lerwick Health Centre on 18th July seeking a sick note. When he told her they were not required for a one-day period of illness she turned on him.Dr Russon told the 15-person jury on Wednesday that Miss Manson had started shouting and gesticulating wildly. "She called me a bullshitting bastard, said I was ****ing useless then leant over me and spat on me."The saliva landed on the side of his head, over his glasses and on his clothes.It was only after she had stormed out and he spoke to a colleague that he learnt of Miss Manson's infection, which had been identified in February 2002.He told the court hepatitis C caused liver damage and, until recently, was usually fatal. However, new research shows that it is not as easily spread as had been thought and the chances of being infected from saliva were as low as one in 100,000 provided the person coming into contact with it was not already ill or had cuts in their mouth.But, at the time of the alleged assault, the GP said he had believed the disease was easily transmissible by saliva.He said he was extremely concerned for his own health and that of his wife. Only when he has a test in January will he know whether he is free of infection.The court heard that a warrant was subsequently issued for Miss Manson's arrest. She denies assaulting the doctor and causing a breach of the peace at the health centre.The other four charges relate to an incident on 19th August in a house at Sandveien where she is accused of attacking Jill Newman, punching, kicking and stamping on her head and body, causing her severe injury and permanently damaging her right hand.In the aftermath of the incident she is accused of kicking a policeman, shouting abuse and making threats in the van to the police station, kicking another policeman at the charge bar in the station and spitting on another officer in a cell.Giving evidence, Miss Newman said she had been painting and decorating with the help of two teenage boys on the day of the incident. They had then sat down to watch The X Factor on TV when Miss Manson came in with a carryout of alcohol.Miss Newman said she told Miss Manson that nobody was drinking in the house and she had asked her to leave a number of times. She had not liked the strange way she was acting, making voices, squeezing up to the boys on a couch grabbing their legs and making them feel uncomfortable.She said that when she told her to leave again, Miss Manson had thrown her to the floor and started stamping on her head, eventually knocking her unconscious for a short while.She told the court: "I just remember punches and the boots coming down on my face."When she came around, Miss Manson had hit her with a bottle and was shouting and swearing.Giving evidence, the two boys, aged 17 and 15, related how they had been frightened by Miss Manson's behaviour before she assaulted Miss Newman. During the attack they had fled the house and called the police while trying to keep a check on what was going on through the living room window.They said they had seen Miss Manson making stamping motions in the area of the room where they had last seen Miss Newman lying. The older teenager said: "She kicked Jill some more and then she sat down and had a drink of her beer."They both denied that Miss Newman had started the fighting.The police arrived and arrested Miss Manson. Miss Newman said she had cuts, bruises, a bleeding ear and had broken her hand in three places, which had still not recovered its strength and is difficult to form into a fist.A senior house officer at the hospital who examined her told the court she had multiple injuries all consistent with blunt force trauma. However, he believed her bad hand would recover over time.Miss Newman denied that she had been drinking and had started a fight with Miss Manson, throwing the first punch which had caused her broken hand.Yesterday it emerged from a transcript of Miss Manson's taped interview with Detective Sergeant Tulloch the day after the incident that she had accused Miss Newman of punching her first before she had then stood up and retaliated.She had said at the time: "She went for me. She obviously thought I was being cheeky or something like that."She punched me in the face. I got up and done the same back to her."When told of Miss Newman's broken hand during the interview Miss Manson responded that she must have got it from punching her.A major inconsistency in the evidence heard yesterday was whether or not Miss Newman had been drinking during the evening. She said she had drunk nothing and that was backed up by the two teenage boys who were in her house. But police officers and the hospital doctor believed she was under the influence and a report from the ambulance crew stated that she had told them she had drunk 15 cans of lager.For the Crown, police officers who were involved that night said Miss Manson had been sitting on the floor in the living room when they arrived at the house in Sandveien. The two arresting officers said she struggled when they tried to put handcuffs on. When she was face down on the couch she had kicked special constable Spence on the leg.They said she continued struggling at the police station and kept threatening to spit on the officers. They had put her on the floor to try to control her and conduct a search. Sergeant Bell said she kicked him on his knee.However, one officer, special constable Barry Derbyshire said he had not seen her kicking or spitting, although he had been warned that she was doing it.She was carried through to a cell where Sergeant Czerniakiewicz said she spat on his arm as he removed her handcuffs.The officers denied that they had been heavy-handed in applying the cuffs or that it was because of her discomfort that Miss Manson had become riled and abusive.In her taped interview Miss Manson had reacted with incredulity when told that she had allegedly assaulted officers the previous night.She said: "Are you trying to tell me I assaulted three policemen last night while handcuffed?"The trial was adjourned yesterday afternoon to await the arrival of the final Crown witness. The Crown evidence is expected to be completed this morning after which Miss Manson will conduct her defence and the jury will consider its verdict.

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