Court told of ‘threats’ to woman charged with 'unprovoked attack' on another woman

Standing in the dock of Ballymena Magistrates’ Court wearing a police issue grey tracksuit, 38-year-old Gemma Rankin was charged with four offences arising from the alleged attack on June 12.

Rankin, from Moylinney Park in Antrim, was charged with causing GBH to the complainant, non-fatal strangulation, possessing two glass jars as weapons and causing criminal damage to the alleged victim’s necklace.

During a contested application for bail, a police officer told the court how the complainant had met the defendant in a shop in Antrim and invited the 38-year-old back to her home.

The two women were drinking together when, just before midnight on Thursday evening, Rankin allegedly launched an “unprovoked attack,” smashing a glass jar on the complainant’s head.

There was a struggle and the alleged victim was able to put Rankin out of the house and summon help, the officer told the court.

When police arrived, the woman was holding a tea towel against a “large gash” on her head and officers could see “skin flapping” from the three-inch wound.

“Blood was spattered throughout the property and there was a large pool of blood in the living room, close to the fireplace,” the officer told the court, adding there was also “significant blood matting” in the complainant’s hair.

The woman was taken to hospital where the wound was stapled and after Rankin was arrested, she told police during interviews “she was one who was attacked and that she wants to make a counter allegation”.

Objecting to bail, the constable said that Rankin’s home was too close to the complainant’s home.

She revealed that in addition, the police had information that “indicates threats against the defendant if she returns to Antrim so police are concerned for her safety”.

“Where did that come from?” District Judge Nigel Broderick asked, and the officer told him “that’s been fed through community representatives in the Antrim area”.

She confirmed that if Rankin managed to obtain a bail address outside of Antrim, the police would not object to bail.

Although Rankin’s defence counsel said there was one such address in Rasharkin, the officer said police had not been able to check whether it was suitable or not.

With Rankin seen to be wiping away tears in the dock, Judge Broderick told her he would grant bail, but that she would not be released until she had a suitable address to go to.

“I’m not really impressed with the threat point,” said the judge, “I do not think people in the community should dictate to police or courts who is under threat and who isn’t but the fundamental point is that the [defendant’s home] address is too close.”

Granting bail in the sum of £500 and adjourning the case to June 17, Judge Broderick added conditions that Rankin must reside at an approved address, has no contact with the complainant and that she stays out of Antrim.