Blyth 'animalistic' woman attacked and abused eleven hospital and police workers
by Rob Kennedy · ChronicleLiveA woman who assaulted and abused 11 hospital workers and police officers in a series of offences has been branded 'animalistic' by one of her victims.
Nikita Carroll turned violent against nurses, hospital security staff and police officers, including spitting into the mouth of one female officer and into the eye of a colleague. She also racially abused two police officers, Newcastle Crown Court heard.
However despite leaving 11 public servants either injured, traumatised, angry or confused, a judge decided prison was not the right place for her due to her mental health issues.
The first offence happened on August 11, when two police officers attended Cramlington railway station after a report of a woman on the train line. They found Carroll, who appeared distressed and intoxicated and was verbally abusive.
One of the officers took hold of her and as he was arresting her, she kicked him in the groin and leg, causing pain.
On January 18, she assaulted three nurses at Cramlington Hospital. The NHS workers were trying to engage with Carroll after she locked herself in a toilet and they found she had a red emergency cord around her neck.
One of the women took her arm but Carroll began attacking her while screaming. She spun her left elbow, hitting her chin and knocking her back into a wall.
She also knocked another nurse into a wall and made threats to "take you all", adding "I've taken on six blokes". One woman suffered a sore thumb and another pain to her hand and the victims were left anxious, distressed and angry, the court heard.
Security arrived to help and then police turned up and Carroll became aggressive with them. She dug her fingernails into one officer's arm and when she was taken to the police station she tried to bite a PC.
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On February 18, at 4am, a security officer at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle was notified Carroll was being aggressive to staff and went to stop her. She said: "If you stop me I will throw ammonia in all of your faces". After being restrained, she spat at the security guard, hitting his arm.
Police attended and she made a racist comment to one officer. Later on, she'd had a spit hood and leg restraints put on but they were removed after she appeared to have calmed down.
As she appeared to have an injured finger, officers took her back to hospital by ambulance but while in the ambulance she became aggressive and started lashing out.
She tried to bite a PC's hand but he moved it away in time. Officers tried to reapply the spit hood and had to physically restrain her head. However she managed to spit into a female officer's face and it went into her mouth.
She was aggressive to hospital staff and the police and then started banging her head off a metal rail on a hospital bed before spitting at another police officer, hitting him in the eye.
She then spat at another officer and racially abused him. One of the officers branded her actions "animalistic".
The 25-year-old, of Hambledon Street, Blyth, admitted nine charges of assaulting an emergency worker, racially aggravated common assault and racially aggravated harassment, alarm or distress.
Mr Recorder Wheeler told Carroll, who expressed remorse and said she can't remember what she did: "I'm not going to send you to prison. Prison would be entirely the wrong place for you, certainly at the moment.
"You have a number of complex mental health and other issues and the assistance of the probation service will hopefully help that process."
He added: "You have committed some fairly serious offences, The people you abused and assaulted have made victim personal statements saying as well as physical or mental hurt they were full of anger and confusion as to why you behaved like this.
"They were professionals doing their job and providing a public service, in most cases they were trying to help you."
Carroll was sentenced to a 12-month community order with a £10 fine and must pay £550 compensation - £50 to each of the 11 victims.
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