After enduring the frenzied attack, Rosie Skitt had to undergo surgery for 25 stitches and is now too terrified to go out
THIS is the horrifying moment a 25-year-old was glassed in the face – all because she SMILED at another woman she thought she knew.
Rosie Skitt, from Jordanthorpe, Sheffield, was left scarred for life after Charlotte Green, 20, slammed a wine glass into her face in a vicious and unprovoked attack.
Earlier that night, Rosie had smiled at Green, who she recognised from her sister’s football team.
But Green mistook her look as ‘sarcastic’, reacting in a moment of frenzied violence.
Now, almost two years on, Rosie has revealed how she still struggles with all the unanswered questions surrounding the attack in May 2015.
“In court, she didn’t seem sorry,” she said. “I’ve never received an explanation.”
She continued: “If I could speak to her now, I’d ask her why. I just want to know what I did to warrant this.
“We’d never had any trouble in the past and in that one moment, she changed both our lives forever.”
Administrator Rosie was in The Chantrey pub in Woodseats, Sheffield, enjoying a quiet drink with friends on May 29, 2015, when she spotted Green at the bar.
Recognising her as a member of the football team her sister Georgia, 18, plays for, she smiled.
But Green – who friends told Sheffield Crown Court could go from “being the life and soul of the party” to “looking for trouble” – believed the grin was sarcastic and marched over.
Rosie continued: “When she came over, I thought it would be to ask after Georgia, but instead she asked if I had a problem with her.”
She said: “I was really taken aback and told her that I didn’t, but she accused me of looking at her funny all night.
“I tried to explain that I’d only looked because I recognised her and that I didn’t want to get into any kind of altercation.
“As soon as I’d finished that sentence, though, she hit me.”
Unaware of the blood gushing from her face, Rosie initially thought she’d just been punched – but it soon became clear that her wounds were much more serious.
Police were called, but Green left before they arrived.
Rosie was taken to Sheffield’s Northern General Hospital.
She recalled: “At that point, I still hadn’t looked in a mirror, so I didn’t realise how serious it was.
“A nurse examined me and told me my injuries were a job for plastic surgery.
“As soon as I heard that I thought, 'I’m in trouble here'.”
Because Rosie was being treated as a crime scene by police, doctors couldn’t clean the blood off her right away.
So when she first glimpsed herself in a bathroom mirror while getting changed for an X-Ray, she said her reflection was shocking.
After being kept in overnight, she underwent surgery the next day.
She needed a total of 25 stitches to the 3cm gash on her left cheek, 2cm cut to her eyelid and 1cm cut to her brow.
Medics also discovered she’d severed a nerve in the middle finger on her left hand, when she’d lifted her hand to shield her face.
The next day, Green was arrested.
Initially, she was due to stand trial after pleading not guilty to grievous bodily harm with intent, which can carry a life sentence.
But the prosecution accepted a lesser charge of grievous bodily harm, which she admitted, and in November 2016, she was jailed for 18 months at Sheffield Crown Court.
Rosie said: "I wasn’t in court for the sentencing. I read an impact statement and left. I couldn’t stand the idea of listening to her barrister defend her.
“I didn’t think she’d go to prison, so that was a huge relief. She might not be sorry now, but she’s got to take this time out of her life and think about what she did to me every day.”
Though Rosie has been left with a permanent scar, she is having ongoing surgery in a bid to reduce it.
She has Botox injections every six months to help repair the nerve damage to her eye and is due to have surgery where medics will remove fat from her stomach and place it in her cheek.
But while she can live with the physical scars, Rosie said the emotional impact of Green’s action is harder to deal with.
“I’ve been seeing a psychologist to help me, but it’s been hard to accept that there are people out there that’ll do this kind of thing for no reason,” she explained.
“I don’t go out as much now. I can’t bear the idea of getting ready and my scar never looking any better.
“Because we’re from a small area, I worry about bumping into people she knows, or being stopped and asked about what happened.
“I’m trying to move on, but it’s difficult when I’m constantly reminded.”
With the help of her family, friends and boyfriend, roofer Luke Bann, 22, who she met in July 2016, Rosie is feeling positive about her future.
“If it weren’t for my amazing support system, I wouldn’t be where I am now,” she said.
“My family are my rock, and my friends were all there waiting for me when I got home from hospital.
“I met Luke after it all happened, so I was nervous to tell him, but it didn’t faze him at all.
“Everyone’s support has just reiterated and reminded me that, no matter what Charlotte has done, she can’t have what I have.”
In November we told how a 24-year-old female clubber was jailed after she glassed a woman around the head when she accidentally danced into her.
