A ‘cruel’ woman beat two schoolgirls with a hammer and a candlestick after ‘losing all sense of control’.
Aneliese Buchanan physically and emotionally abused her victims, with a court told how she slapped them, punched them and attacked them with weapons, Wales Online reports. The 39-year-old was said to have ‘lost all sense of control and proportion’ as she abused the girls.
On one occasion, Buchanan, from Newport, used a candlestick to strike her victims – who cannot be identified – with force, causing a deep cut to one of their heads. The court was told how there was ‘blood everywhere’ after the attack.
The girl was later taken to hospital where she received stitches. It was also said the Buchanan had also punched and slapped the victims with her hands, causing what Judge Shoman Khan described as ‘serious violence with the utmost cruelty’.
Buchanan would also use weapons such as a hammer, the top of a screwdriver and a roll of cling film which she used to hold her victims by their windpipes. In victim personal statements read to the court by prosecutor Heath Edwards, one of the victims said the violence inflicted on her left her feeling ‘overwhelmed’ and ‘crying to the point where she can’t breathe’.
Buchanan, of Margaret Avenue, denied the offences against her but was convicted of a section 20 wounding, two counts of using violence against a child under 18 and perverting the course of justice after she contacted the one victim and tried to persuade her to drop the charges.
The court heard she had one previous conviction for perverting the course of justice after she was jailed for lying about a sexual assault. During a sentencing hearing on Friday (September 27) at Newport Crown Court, she appeared via video link from prison and was wearing dark glasses, a face mask and was sitting in a wheelchair.
In mitigation, Emma Harris said her client had a number of health issues including impairment and the defendant had concerns about her treatment in prison. Sentencing, Judge Khan said: “It’s clear to me that you lie, you lied to the jury and you lied to the court…. Not only did you physically abused these two girls, but emotionally abused them.”
Buchanan was locked up for seven years. She will serve half the sentence in custody before she is released to serve the remainder on licence.
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