AN ESTATE agent who smashed a glass into a stranger’s face at a Bournemouth nightclub has been spared jail.

Judge John Harrow said 21-year-old Yasmin Thomas had one of the worst records for violence he had ever seen for a man or woman her age.

Bournemouth Crown Court heard how the sales negotiator, who has 17 previous convictions for assault and battery, “lunged” at her victim, Ronnie Lee, with a glass at Bar So nightclub in the early hours of February 23.

Mr Lee has since spoken of his outrage after she was spared a jail sentence.

Prosecuting Carolyn Branford-Wood said she lashed out at Mr Lee following an altercation involving an e-cigarette belonging to his friend, Richard Evans.

A woman, who was out with Thomas, snatched the device from Mr Evans and dropped it on the dancefloor, the court was told.

A drunken Thomas picked it up and gave it to Mr Lee before saying: ‘Are you not going to say thank you? Who do you think you are?’.

Miss Branford-Wood told the court: “Miss Thomas, with a glass in her hand, lunged towards Mr Lee, who felt a blow to his left eye and blood trickling down his face,”.

Mr Lee suffered a serious cut to his lower eyelid, which required stitches, and two other cuts to his face.

Audrey Archer, mitigating, said Thomas, who works at Palmer Snell Estate Agents in Westbourne, had been diagnosed with an emotionally-unstable personality disorder and had struggled to manage her temper from childhood.

Miss Archer said Thomas, of Malvern Road, Bournemouth, had sought help from mental health services prior to committing this offence and was waiting to undergo cognitive analytical therapy. She told the judge her client was trying to turn her life around and, prior to the attack, her last offence was committed in 2010.

Describing her record as “breathtaking”, Judge Harrow handed Thomas, who had pleaded guilty, to a 12-month suspended sentence.

He said: “It is not without a lot of hesitation and some reservations, I must confess, that I’m going to suspend that 12 month sentence for two years.”

He told Thomas: “Any offence at all will be sent back to this court and you will go straight down those steps to prison for at least 12 months.”

Judge Harrow ordered Thomas to complete an anger management programme, 80 hours of unpaid community work and pay £1,000 in compensation to Mr Lee. She was also ordered to pay a £100 victim surcharge.

Victim was ‘very lucky’ not to suffer permanent damage

THOMAS’S victim was “very lucky” not to suffer any permanent damage following the brutal attack, the court was told.

In a statement, Mr Lee told police he removed shards of glass from his eye and feared he would suffer permanent damage to his vision,

Miss Branford-Wood told the judge.

She said doctors initially feared he had suffered a fractured eye socket following the assault, which had left him “cautious” about going on future nights out.

In a statement, which was read to the court, Mr Lee said: “I have already found that while walking around town people have started looking at me as if judging me although I haven’t done anything wrong.”