Mother who flew into violent rage and beat up boy, 13, avoids jail

A mother who went berserk and beat up a 13-year-old boy after he ‘pointed an air rifle at her boyfriend’s face’ wept as she walked free from court. 

Tele marketing worker Lavinia Pinner, 42, punched, kicked, scratched and bit the teenager while banging his head against a wall in a fit of rage after he allegedly aimed the weapon at her partner during a heated row.

The boy, who is known to Pinner but cannot be named, sustained multiple bruising to his arms and back plus cuts and scratches to his face, as well as bite marks to his elbow. His iPhone was also smashed during the attack at his Cheshire home. 

Police were called but the boy declined to give a statement about the attack, Warrington Magistrates’ Court heard.

Sentencing Pinner to a suspended prison term, magistrate Alf Bean said the ‘sword of Damocles was now hanging over’ her head as he told the tearful mother: ‘You cannot behave the way you behaved towards any child and expect to get away with it and not face the full punishment of the law.’ 

Lavinia Pinner (above) lashed out in a fit of rage at the 13-year-old boy after claiming he had pointed an air rifle at the face of her boyfriend 

Pinner, from Macclesfield, faced 18 months jail under sentencing guidelines after she pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, criminal damage and unrelated offences of possessing the drug ketamine.

But she was sentenced to 12 months in custody, suspended for 18 months and was also ordered to undertake 35 days of rehabilitative activity with the probation service.

The incident occurred on July 20 last year after Pinner and her unnamed lover got into argument with the boy following a night out 10-pin bowling. The reason for the row is not known. 

‘Following the argument the defendant has attacked the victim. The victim has gone into his bedroom and the defendant has gone in and continued to assault him,’ prosecutor Laura Simpson said.

‘She was throwing items around, causing damage to his bedroom, and broke his iPhone. She had punched and scratched him. She had also bitten him twice and banged his head against a wall.

Pinner, 42, of Macclesfield, has apologised for her actions saying: ‘I don’t really know what happened to me that evening… What I have done is unforgivable’

‘The victim saw a doctor following the incident. The injuries were a scratch to the face, cuts behind his ear, on his left hand, his collarbone and on his nose. He had bite marks on his elbow and on his back and bruises to his arms and back. 

‘Whilst in custody, following the defendant’s arrest, a small bag containing ketamine was found on her person.

‘The victim has not provided a victim statement. He has retracted support for the prosecution.’

Pinner, who had one previous conviction for drink-driving from 2019, told the court: ‘He had been bought a massive rifle. They have metal pellets so if you shoot someone in the face you can actually kill somebody with it. He was holding a gun into someone else’s face and my head just went in that moment.’

She continued: ‘I just want to say that no person is more sorry about what they have done than I am.

‘I don’t really know what happened to me that evening. I was a victim for over 20 years of mental abuse but I know what I have done is unforgivable. I can only say I am so sorry for what I have done and I was shocked myself for what I did.’

The mother-of-two wept as she left court after a magistrate issued her with a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months

She added: ‘My daughter has fallen out with me because of what I’ve done. I totally understand that but I just hope that I can make it up.

‘My daughter won’t speak to me at the moment, and I hope that will change.’

Sentencing Pinner, magistrate Alf Bean told her the attack was ‘wholly unacceptable’, adding: ‘What the bench finds is that this assault is quite abhorrent. That’s because it was a vulnerable child aged just 13 years old at the time.

‘You may have been alarmed that he pointed the pellet type gun in your partner’s face and potentially it may have killed someone but the fact is you can not behave the way you behaved towards any child and expect to get away with it and not face the full punishment of the law.

‘This assault was abhorrent. You were pushing, punching, biting and scratching him. It was wholly unacceptable. The sword of Damocles is now hanging over your head for the next 18 months.’

The magistrate added that the custody threshold had been ‘crossed’ but that after ‘much deliberation’ the bench had decided to suspend the sentence.