10 February 2024 , 09:51
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A mum who was left with a nine-inch scar after a heinous nightclub slashing has spoken out after her attacker was jailed.
Jeanette Irvine, 51, feared she would never see her children again when Marie Huggan attacked her with a bottle at De Vito's in Arbroath in July 2022. Paramedics raced to sew 11 stiches to close up the wound as the mother-of-six lay there fearing she would "bleed out and die" on the dance floor. Huggan, 44, was sentenced to nine months in Dundee Sheriff Court on Thursday, admitting she "deserves everything she gets" for the horrendous assault.
Speaking to the Record, Jeanette says she has been left with PTSD and spent several months thinking of nothing other than death. She said: "I've never been so scared in my whole life. I honestly thought I was never going to see my kids again. She could have killed me. Every time I look in the mirror now I'm reminded of what happened. If she'd hit me a few centimetres over, I would have bled to death right there. One of my daughters was there that night and I kept saying to her to look after my two youngest kids because I didn't think I was going home."
She added: "I was absolutely shocked and traumatised by it all during the first couple of months. All I could think about was death. It's really damaged my mental health. I'm glad that she has been sent to prison and it wasn't just community service or anything like that. It feels like justice has been served. She's now been taken away from her family, but she could have taken me away from mine forever."
Jeanette's children were terrified by her black eyes (Handout)
Marie Huggan (pictured) has been jailed for nine months (Agency)Jeanette said she had never met Huggan before the night of her attack and still has no idea why she was targeted. She had been enjoying a night out with friends when Huggan started shouting "Do you know who I am?" and "You should, don't start s***", then broke a bottle and hit Jeanette with it. I didn't know her. I had never spoken to her before. We are grown women and what happened is just disgusting. I could never do something like that to someone. I just don't have it in me."
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The attack was caught on CCTV, and security came quickly to help Jeanette, with a bouncer taking off his shirt to stop her neck wound. The next day, police charged Huggan with causing assault to severe injury and permanent disfigurement. She also apologised for attacking another woman after knocking her down and hitting her.
Sheriff Paul Brown refused the defence's plea to let her off with a non-custodial sentence because she is a mother to three young children. However, the sheriff said the severity of the crime left him no other choice than to issue her a prison term.