Mum's life 'changed forever' as she's slashed in the face with glass by stranger
A mum has been left with horrific injuries - including permanent scarring - after she was slashed across the face with a broken glass by a stranger in a bar.
Natalie Arthurs, 36, says her life has been "changed forever" as she has been unable to return to work since the horror, and has abandoned her beloved role with the Army Reserves. A court heard her assailant, 25-year-old Emily Williams, smashed the glass she was carrying and attacked Miss Arthurs in the toilets of a bar.
Miss Arthurs was dashed to hospital after the unprovoked assault, where she spent three days recovering. A witness told the court Williams seemed "possessed" and looked like she was "cutting meat" when she used the weapon the slash her victim.
But she was arrested and charged with inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent, a count to which she was convicted after a trial at Swansea Crown Court. Judge Huw Rees described what she did as "wicked almost beyond belief" and jailed the thug for five years.
Speaking after the hearing, mum-to-one Miss Arthurs said: "The emotional impact of something like this changes your life forever. I hope people can reach out to me and I can be the light for people who are going through this kind of thing.
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"It took 15 months for this to come to trial. For those 15 months I think I was in shock – like autopilot. It is only now I am coming to terms with everything. I am going to have this scar for the rest of my life – I know that. In the past I always avoided conflicts and I felt like I was in control. This has just knocked me and shown me you are not in control of what happens. It was a random, unprovoked attack done for no reason. This has changed my outlook on life."
The attack happened in the toilets of the Peppermint bar in Swansea city centre on Thursday November 17, 2022 – a day which saw crowds in the city centre celebrating Beaujolais Day. Miss Arthurs had been out for an afternoon meal in SA1 and then gone to the Beaujolais marquee outside Morgan's Hotel before going on to Peppermint with a friend. At just before 6pm she was in the toilets when Williams came in and started shouting at her.
The mum, who is from Swansea, was slashed in the face with glass by a stranger (Natalie Arthurs)
The horror has changed Miss Arthurs' life significantly (Natalie Arthurs)Good Samaritans helped Miss Arthurs in the bar before she was taken to hospital. Williams, who is from Kidwelly, Carmarthenshire, was escorted away by bouncers. The court heard Miss Arthurs suffered a "deep, jagged wound" to the left side of her face which severed the saliva gland in her cheek and damaged a nerve.
The skin at the tip of her nose was also cut off in the attack and she suffered a wound across her chest and shoulder and superficial wounds to her neck. The court heard Miss Arthurs is currently under the care of the burns and plastics department at a hospital and faces further procedures and treatments in the coming years.
Wales Online reports how Miss Arthurs given up her role in the Army Reserves where she was training to be a driver with the Royal Logistic Corps. She said she reluctantly finished with the territorials as she did not feel comfortable wearing the uniform where people might think she was veteran or a hero who had been injured on duty.
In an impact statement that was read to the court by prosecution barrister Alycia Carpanini during the hearing Miss Arthurs said the events of that November afternoon "changed my life forever". She said she had been an outgoing person but now has overwhelming anxiety and panic attacks, "cries most days" and struggles to sleep most nights, and has been left endlessly asking the question: "Why me?".
Emily Williams has been sentenced to five years in prison (South Wales Police)She said she is now constantly on edge and struggles to trust people and said she "despises" seeing the scar or touching it, which she had to do several times a day as part of her rehabilitation. Miss Arthurs also described the "heartbreak" of her young daughter seeing her scarred face for the first time and said the pain she knows the incident has caused her mother weighs heavily on her.
Emily Monica Williams has no previous convictions but has a youth caution for possession of the drug speed from 2013. Jon Tarrant, for Williams, said the defendant was the sole carer for two young children and said references before the court show "a very different side" to Williams than the one seen during the trial process.
The judge noted the defendant continues to deny inflicting injury with a glass and said in his view the version of events she gave in evidence about an altercation between her and the victim was a "complete fiction". He described Miss Arthurs as "brave and resolute" and said her character was demonstrated by her giving up her role with the Army Reserves as she did not want people thinking she had received her injury in that way. He said: "She is clearly a woman of admirable character."
The defendant was sentenced to five years in prison. She will serve two-thirds of that sentence in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community. She was also made the subject of a restraining order banning her from contacting her victim or posting anything about her on social media for the next 10 years.
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