What should have been a lovely day out for a mum and her five-year-old daughter turned into a nightmare when she became the victim of an assault.
Melanie Hennessy, 43, had taken daughter Daisy to a Remembrance Day parade in Redcar, to offer her respects to those who had died in battle.
On her way home, the tutor - who is blind in one eye as a result of two brain tumours - was confronted by an abusive youth after he had attempted to run in front of her car.
The youth started swearing at Melanie and when she politely asked him to stop, as it was upsetting her daughter, he pulled up his hood, fastened the drawstrings across his face, and pushed the her to the ground.
Speaking about her ordeal, Melanie, from Redcar, said: “I honestly thought when I asked him to stop swearing at me he would just apologise, I never saw what was coming at all.
“I went down with such force, I have never known pain like it.”
Melanie smacked her back on the wheel trim and her head just above it before landing on her coccyx.
A passer-by who had witnessed the attack came to help her up and said that they should ring the police.
Melanie said: “When he came over to me, the first thing I told him was that I had hit my head and that I had brain tumours.
“I was crying my eyes out as I was in so much pain and so worried.”
The police arrived and called for an ambulance to take Melanie to hospital, but after waiting for nearly two hours, she was taken in the back of a police car.
Unable to face the journey to James Cook Hospital, Melanie was taken to Redcar Primary Care Hospital.
The following day, Melanie was forced to return to the doctors as she was still in agony and was told that her injuries were similar to those she would have sustained if she had been in a car crash.
She said: “My whole body was aching and my head was thumping.
“It is still no better now and I was given strong pain killers and told that I would have to be off work.
“My husband Wayne has already had to take time off and we just can’t afford for us not to be working.
“The boy who did this to me just has no idea how it has affected us.”
Melanie’s daughter has also been affected by what she witnessed.
Melanie said: “Daisy was devastated and has been waking up in the night crying.
“He did not think about what it would do to her did he.
“I can’t believe he did it in front of my child.”
Husband Wayne, 46, was at work on the day of the attack.
He said: “I got a phone call out of the blue and had to travel 80 miles to get back to my family.
“It was the worst drive ever. It just makes you wonder how kids, can be like this? Why are they the way they are?
“I would like to ask him how he would feel if someone did this to his mum or someone from his family?”
Since the attack, Melanie has not been out on her own but is determined not to let it affect her.
She said: “I won’t let him win, I am too stubborn to let him ruin my life.”
Any witnesses or anyone with information is asked to contact PC Daniel Scott on the non-emergency number 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
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