A teenager pulled a woman’s hair and filmed herself in a joint assault after a fight broke out in a shared house in Gillingham over a borrowed jumper

An immature teenager attacked a woman and pulled her hair during a video call after a fight broke out over a borrowed jumper.

Cassidy Penney-Miller burst out laughing as she joined in the assault on Kiera Prince after another woman began pushing and punching her inside their shared home in GillinghamEdit.

After an argument began over the article of clothing Ms. Prince had borrowed, Penney-Miller, 19, not only pulled her hair but laughed while doing so during a video call.

The incident occurred at an assisted living accommodation property on Marlborough Road on October 22, 2023.

Penney-Miller, now of Hoopers Road, Rochester, had initially denied a charge of assault by beating and another charge of criminal damage.

She was found guilty of assault at the trial in October last year, but not guilty of the charge of criminal damage.

At that time sentencing was adjourned to allow a pre-sentence report to be made and she returned to Medway Magistrates’ Court on Thursday (January 2) to hear her fate.

Lucie Fish, prosecuting, said: “This is an assault and the victim was Kiera Prince and there was another woman involved and it happened in supported accommodation.

“The other woman pleaded guilty to assault and criminal damage and was given a conditional discharge, but this defendant pleaded not guilty but was found guilty of assault at trial.”

The prosecutor then told the court that the argument broke out in the house over an article of clothing that had been lent to the victim.

Ms Fish added: “She (the victim) was pushed, pulled by the hair, punched and pulled by the hair (by the other woman) and then Penney-Miller grabbed the victim by the hair and pulled him and the other hand she was holding her mobile and recording it and was laughing.

“The attack lasted one or two minutes and the defendant pulled his hair, it was a minor role and there was minor damage.”

The court also heard that Ms Prince had written a victim impact statement in which she said the attack had made her feel like shit and that it was horrible having to live in the same house as her attackers.

However, magistrates also heard that Penney-Miller had moved out of the property and was now living alone in an apartment.

She knew she had done something wrong all along.

Tahir Saeed, mitigating, said his client had indeed played a minor role in the attack.

He added: “She knows she has done something wrong and grabbed the victim’s hair, but she knew she had done something wrong from the beginning.

“It was an argument over a jumper but it then escalated over a mobile phone and a support worker tried to intervene.

“She wasn’t recording, she was on Facetime Live with someone, but she wasn’t recording as an act of malice, it was immaturity.

“She was in the care system because she wasn’t under her mother’s control, but now they have a good relationship and she has support (where she lives now) and goes to university.

“I agree that you (the magistrates) could follow the recommendations of the pre-sentence probation report as it was some time ago.

“He is now trying to make a positive contribution to others and is trying to help others deal with issues within the care system.”

When asked by magistrates if he had learned his lesson, Penney-Miller replied: “Yes.”

They then told him that since he had previously been of good character and had now turned his life around and stabilized his behaviour, they were prepared to give him a 12-month probation.

He was ordered to pay £300 court costs and a £26 victim surcharge.

He will pay what he owes to the court at the rate of £20 a month as he receives benefits.