Stephanie Atha, 23, suffered serious facial injuries and a suspected fractured rib in the attempted robbery
Gallery: Stephanie Atha who was attacked on her way home from work
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A woman who suffered serious facial injuries and a suspected fractured rib in an attempted robbery has said she is too scared to venture out alone.
Stephanie Atha, 23, from Guisborough, was walking home alone through a cut between Park Lane and Woodhouse Road when two men approached her.
“One went to grab my phone in my hand and I thought he was joking at first,” said Stephanie, who lives with her mum, Angela, and sister, Aimee, 22, and has four other brothers and sisters.
But the two men tried to grab Stephanie’s iPhone 5S and when she moved it out of reach one of them punched her in the face.
“It was on a slope and muddy and I slipped somehow and landed on the floor,” said Stephanie, a nursing assistant at West Lane Hospital in Middlesbrough.
Once she was on the ground the men continued to try to take her phone from her and kicked and punched her and called her offensive names in an attack that lasted several minutes.
Stephanie had just finished a 1.30-9.30pm shift and caught the bus to Guisborough from Middlesbrough bus station on Saturday, May 24.
The attack happened just before 11pm as she walked through the cut on her way home from the bus stop.
“I’ve walked that same route hundreds of times,” said Stephanie, who still has painful bruising to her ribs, legs and face.
“It’s badly lit but it never bothered me walking anywhere.
“I didn’t expect it to happen, it’s only five or 10 minutes from home.”
Stephanie says she owes her work training for helping her to get away from her attackers.
“With my job in children’s mental health you learn restraints and how to defend yourself,” she said. “So I curled up in a ball.
“I managed to defend myself. I managed to shove one of them. I did fight back. I’m glad I got out of it. I ran all the way home.”
Her mum Angela, who is terminally ill, said: “It was awful. I was in the hospice when it happened and I got a phone call off her sobbing down the phone.
“I felt so helpless. I managed to calm her down and I told her to phone the police as soon as she got off the phone to me.”
The police arrived within 10-15 minutes and Aimee came straight home to look after her distraught sister.
Now Stephanie says she has only ventured out to James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough with her boyfriend, Callum Terry, 18, and to see her GP.
“I just feel very anxious when I’m out of the house and that’s not me at all,” she said.
“I hope I can get justice and I hope the police find them and they get jailed and realise how far they’ve taken it.”
Stephanie, who is off sick while she recovers from her ordeal at home, added she wouldn’t be walking the same route home again.
The first man was white, around 5ft 3, in his early 20s, of slim build and had short dark hair with stubble. He was wearing a dark tracksuit top and bottoms. The second man was also wearing a dark tracksuit top and bottoms.
Anyone with information should contact DC Andy Paice at Kirkleatham police office on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
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