MARK McLAUGHLIN
Evening News (Edinburgh)
September 15, 2010, Wednesday
A VULNERABLE pregnant woman suffered a miscarriage after she was hit over the head with a bottle and beaten as she tried to buy drugs for a friend in a Capital underpass.
Emma Flint, 27, suffered head injuries, cuts, bruising to her abdomen and bleeding during the assault, despite begging her attackers to stop because she was pregnant.
Last week her attacker, heroin addict Natalie Paterson, 40, was jailed for 14 months for the attack but both Ms Flint and her family believe she should have been given a far harsher sentence.
Miss Flint, of Craigentinny, said: "She ended a life that day and should have been given 10 years."
She said she had gone to the underpass in Murrayburn Drive in Wester Hailes to "buy some smoke" for a friend from the group.
She said: "When I arrived a gang of them set about me. Natalie hit me over the head with a bottle and I fell, then they all started laying into me.
"I kept saying to them 'stop, stop, I'm pregnant' but apparently that didn't matter to them.
"They stole everything from me, my mobile, money, keys and fags, and ran away. As she was running, Natalie turned around and said, 'if I see you round here again you'll end up in a box'.
"Somehow I managed to get up and make it to the main road. I nearly got hit by a cab because I was staggering around, and someone phoned the emergency services.
"I was in hospital for a few hours. Three days later I discovered I had miscarried. The attack has ruined my life and yet Natalie Paterson will probably be free in seven months. I know it's a cliche, but the law is an ass."
In a letter to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority, Miss Flint's doctor Ewen Stewart, of Rose Garden Medical Centre, confirmed that she was pregnant at the time of the assault.
He said: "I can confirm that on 11 August 2008 we received a fax from the Pregnancy Support Centre at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh confirming that she had a complete miscarriage. This does appear to have been following the incident."
Paterson sobbed as she was jailed last Wednesday, having previously admitted to assault and robbery at the Murrayburn Drive underpass on 7 August 2008.
Two other people were charged in connection with the assault but their not-guilty pleas were accepted. Paterson was also sentenced to a further two months for a separate assault on a child in 2009.
Defence lawyer Paul Dunn told the court that Paterson had been the victim of a serious crime herself in 2005 and had spiralled into a series of crimes, but that she was taking steps to get off the drink and drugs she turned to after being the victim of a crime.
Sheriff Noble said: "You did participate in an assault and robbery on a woman with learning difficulties. It can only be dealt with by way of custody."
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