Mum suffers horror injuries after woman bit a chunk of her FACE off at house party
Shock attack has left 27-year-old scarred for life
A YOUNG mum suffered horrific injuries after she had a chunk bitten out of her FACE at a party.
Support worker Kate Nield was at a friend’s house when she suffered the vicious attack which left her with a big chunk ripped out of her cheek.
The shocked mum-of-two was rushed to hospital for plastic surgery in a bid to repair some of the damage.
Doctors spent an hour performing a skin graft, taking skin from the back of Kate’s arm and putting it onto the damaged part of her face.
But they have warned she will be scarred for life.
As her attacker yesterday admitted her guilt before Liverpool Crown Court, Kate spoke of her ordeal for the first time.
Kate, 27, from Southport, said: “I am very image conscious. I go to the gym every day and my health and my looks are so important to me. But now, I’m scarred forever. I feel like a freak.
“For weeks, I could only drink though a straw and I still can’t bear to look in the mirror. After it happened I looked like I’d been mauled by a bear.”
Kate, a single mum, works full time and has two young daughters.
In February this year, she went to a friend’s house, with around six other guests – including her attacker, Claire McCluskey.
Kate says: “It was a small gathering, nothing formal; we were just chatting.”
But as the evening progressed, McCluskey – who Kate did not know well – became very drunk.
Kate says: “She got very drunk and loud and angry. My friend who owned the house, asked her to leave, and I backed him up, for some support.
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“She left – but in the next moment, she came running back into the house and lunged at me. I felt her teeth sinking into my face and I fell to the floor.
“There was a chunk of my face on the floor and there was blood everywhere. She was like a raving lunatic. My friends managed to get her off me but I was hysterical.”
McCluskey fled and Kate was rushed to hospital for urgent surgery to graft skin from the back of her arm onto her face. She needed two sets of stitches inside her mouth.
Doctors at Whiston Hospital in Merseyside later spent an hour performing a skin graft, taking skin from the back of her arm and putting it onto the damaged part of her face.
She says: “My mum and dad came to the hospital and they burst into tears when they saw me. I could feel a hole in my face and I was panic-stricken.
“When I looked in the mirror I was horrified. I was in agony. I could only eat and drink through a straw.
“For months I couldn’t sleep or look in the mirror. My two daughters were so upset when they saw me. I told them I tripped up, in my high heels, but my eldest one didn’t believe me.
“My scars still look very angry, six months on, and I am reminded of what happened every time I look in the mirror. A simple drink with friends has ruined my looks, but I won’t let it ruin my life.
“I need to stay strong for my girls.”
McCluskey initially pleaded not guilty to wounding with intent to cause GBH, but today admitted a lesser charge of wounding without intent in a deal with the Crown Prosecution Service
She will be sentenced next month.
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