A judge told the M&S Bank Arena worker “I am afraid this is going to be a dry Christmas for you.”
A judge told the M&S Bank Arena worker “I am afraid this is going to be a dry Christmas for you.”
A mum has been sentenced to a “dry Christmas” after brawling erupted in the toilets of a nightclub. Suraya Lawal was dragged out of a cubicle by her hair as trouble flared in the ladies’ bathroom.
She then turned violent herself as the incident reignited in the street, repeatedly kicking and stamping on another woman who was wrestling with her friend on the floor. The incident came while she was the subject of a suspended prison sentence over an XL bully attack which left her neighbour scarred for life.
Liverpool Crown Court heard yesterday, Monday, that Lawal was in the toilets of Brooklyn Mixer on Seel Street in Liverpool city centre at around 4am on July 27 this year when fighting broke out between a group of around five women. CCTV from inside the bathroom showed the 33-year-old, of Low Wood Street in Kensington, being restrained from behind as another female was repeatedly hit in the face before security staff intervened.
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Ian Criddle, prosecuting, described how the violence then flared up once again outside, with further footage showing the defendant aiming kicks towards one woman before kicking and stamping on her further as she grappled with another women on the floor. The victim refused to provide details other than her first name to Merseyside Police and did not ultimately provide a statement in relation to the incident, but was left with bruising to her face and chest.
Under interview, Lawal “admitted kicking the girl to the head” and “kicking her many times”. But the mother-of-two, who is employed as a cleaner at M&S Bank Arena, told detectives that she did not know the complainant and “didn’t know why she did it”.
Lawal has a previous conviction for conspiracy to supply drugs in 2006, for which she received two years’ detention in a young offenders’ institute. She was also handed a 16-month imprisonment suspended for two years in June 2023 for being in charge of a dangerously out of control dog causing injury after her XL bully left a woman “deformed” and requiring plastic surgery.
Eve Salter, defending, told the court: “Your honour has seen the footage from the bathroom. If anything, she seems to be the victim. There seems to have been some sort of argument. She cannot recall what the argument was.
“She recalls being dragged off the toilet by her hair and her friend being dragged off the toilet by her hair. She had done nothing, other than trying to get away.
“In terms of the aftermath, there was some sort of bumping into each other again. It seems that the defendant’s friend and one of the other group became involved in hair pulling and the like again. She reacted wrongly following some degree of provocation. She is remorseful for her actions.”
Lawal admitted assault and breaching a suspended sentence order. She was handed an 18-month community order, 100 hours of unpaid work and a rehabilitation activity requirement of up to 25 days.
Sentencing, Recorder Jeremy Lasker said: “You became involved in a pretty ugly incident in the ladies’ toilets. On the face of it, although I do not know what started it, you do look at that moment to be more victim than attacker. If it had ended there, you would not be sitting in the dock today. The confrontation and violence began again. It went on for quite some time.
“Many people were involved, but you played a part when you could be seen kicking somebody who was stood up at the time. Somebody came to be on the floor, and you can then be seen moving in again and both stamping and kicking on that person.
“You are a mother to two relatively young boys. They are described as having disabilities and challenging behaviours. Even a single mum is allowed to have a night out off duty, but not for the purposes of getting involved in this sort of behaviour.
“I am not going to send you to prison today and I am not going to activate the suspended sentence order. The suspended sentence hanging over you is for an entirely different type of offence. You are actually relatively lightly convicted. I regard the offences in your teenage years as a long time ago. I know you have had difficulties in your life.”
Lawal will also be required to complete a three-month alcohol abstinence requirement. Recorder Lasker added of this: “I am afraid this is going to be a dry Christmas for you.”
