A drunken woman who assaulted a teenage girl in Pembroke Dock before breaking her mobile phone has been handed a suspended prison sentence.

Thirty-year-old Tanya Burndred, of Dimond Street, appeared at Haverfordwest Magistrates Court on Tuesday to admit charges of assault and criminal damage.

Prosecutor Vaughan Pritchard-Jones told the court that the incident occurred on November 1 outside the Tesco store in Pembroke Dock.

“This is rather a bizarre case and nobody seems to have an idea why it happened?

“The complainant a fifteen-year-old girl was simply outside the store waiting to meet a friend when Miss Burndred walked past her and for no apparent reason punched her in the face and then slapped her across the face!

“She then shouted at the girl ‘I’m going to kill you’ before grabbing her mobile phone and throwing it towards the trolleys.

“Miss Burndred grabbed the girl’s hair back, pulled her to the floor and then kicked her. Fortunately the defendant’s boyfriend was on hand to pull her off and the incident came to an end,” explained Mr. Pritchard-Jones.

In a victim impact statement given to police, the victim said that she didn’t know who her attacker was, and that she had no right to assault her.

She said that the incident had left her ‘shaken and scared’.

“Fortunately the young girl did not suffer any injuries but the incident caused her significant stress and a broken mobile phone worth £500,” continued Mr. Pritchard-Jones who stated that the defendant had previous convictions to her name, most recently a community order.

“When arrested, Miss Burndred said when interviewed by police that she and her partner had drunk two bottles of wine and they had got into an argument, and the next thing she knew she was in the back of a police car.

“On a scale of one to ten she told police that she was a ten at the time, and could not remember anything about the incident as she was so drunk,” he added.

Defence solicitor Rebecca Carter told the court that her client offered no justifications for her actions but had shown genuine remorse.

Probation officer Julie Norman told the court that the defendant who had moved down to the area from Stoke with her partner stated that alcohol was the main contributing factor for the incident.

“Her only explanation was that she was intoxicated. Miss Burndred says that she doesn’t drink all the time, but when she does she has a propensity to get into trouble.

“It was an unprovoked attack, and you can only imagine how distressing that must have been for the victim,” added Ms Norman.

When sentencing, chief magistrate David Ellis told Miss Burndred: “This was a deeply unpleasant incident indeed, aggravated by the fact that it was an unprovoked sustained attack on a child.”

The defendant was given a 20 week prison sentence suspended for 12 months, to include 250 hours of unpaid work and a 10 day rehabilitation activity requirement.

Miss Burndred was also ordered to pay £500 compensation to the victim, £85 in prosecution costs and a £122 victim surcharge.