Teenager fractured woman's eye socket with punch in Pudsey attack

McKenzie Dagless, 18, punched the victim repeatedly to her face during the October 9, 2021 attack on Bradford Road, Leeds.

Earlier that year, he had also randomly attacked a separate couple, Leeds Crown Court heard.

The female victim had been in the Halfway House pub on Leeds and Bradford road.

When she went outside the pub for a cigarette. Dagless swore as he shouted, "What is she doing here?".

Later that evening, the victim and her partner emerged from the pub and walked past Stanningley Park, the court heard.

They were followed by Dagless and an associate who were "taunting the pair", according to the prosecutor.

"As the couple approached Summerfield Road, the defendant punched [the female victim] to the face", Mr Ahmed explained.

"It surprised and stunned her. He punched her again to the face."

She received a significant eye socket fracture and had to undergo surgery to fix the fracture, with a plate being fitted.

The woman was left with permanent disfigurement, while the man suffered grazing injuries..

Both of the victims positively identified Dagless during video procedures.

He was arrested and interviewed on October 12 and again answered no comment to all questions.

Dagless, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm, actual bodily harm, wounding with intent, assault by beating and actual bodily harm offences during an earlier hearing.

The female victim in this attack said she "dreads the day he walks the street again".

In a moving victim impact statement read to the court, she said she had suffered multiple panic attacks, was deeply depressed and scared of her own shadow.

The victim said the shape of her face had been changed and she had lost all confidence.

Part of her statement reads: "This man is in my head day and night.

"I see his face constantly.

"I am terrified now, there wasn't a reason for the attack.

"I was just starting to get my happy back and he has ripped it away from me."

The woman said she had suffered blurred vision and was "shocked out of living daylights" that a random stranger could attack anyone.

"I was totally blindsided by him", she added.

"He has ruined my life and any chance of a social life again, he is a danger to anyone and everyone."

The victim originally submitted her impact statement in November, however in an updated March statement, she expressed how her life had changed.

"I am extremely anxious and have lost my confidence", she said.

"I am still suffering really badly from multiple panic attacks, I am scared of my own shadow.

"This attack has turned me into a person I don't know any more.

"I feel like I am doing a prison sentence, why hasn't he still shown any remorse?

"The man attacked me not only once but hit me again.

"I dread the day he walks the streets again."

She told the court within the statement she was "certain" he needed to be imprisoned "for a long time".

She added: "He doesn't care and he never will.

"One night has ruined multiple peoples and family's lives."

A probation officer's report described it as "rare to come across someone so young who presents such a high risk of reoffending".

Dagless was described as a young man who "lacked any respect for other people" by Judge Tom Bayliss QC.

He has 13 previous offences on record including for assaulting emergency service workers after he "spat into one of their mouths", the court heard.

Sentencing him for the attack on the woman and a previous attack earlier that year, the judge said: "Perhaps a realisation for where offending is leading your life will lead to maturity.

"You were 17 years old when you committed [the first offences].

"You and another youth confronted the victims in the early evening. They were strangers to you. They did nothing.

"When [the male victim's] girlfriend tried to stop you attacking him, you punched her in the face.

"You stabbed him in the thigh. He was taken to hospital and the knife penetrated muscle in his leg."

Judge Bayliss QC told the court that the wounding offence alone would have attracted a sentence at the top of the range.

However, this was aggravated by Dagless' previous convictions.

Regarding the second attack, the judge added: "In August you were in the company of another man.

"You punched [the female victim] repeatedly to the face. She has been permanently disfigured. She has lost all confidence."

Dagless - who watched the proceedings via a prison video link - will be detained in a young offender institute for six years, with four years on extended licence.