A MAN left a woman with a fractured eye socket after launching a “cowardly” assault on her as he she rode a mobility scooter.

Thug Malakyi Thompson punched stranger Rebecca Farrell on Ringland Way in Newport in broad daylight, prosecutor Mari Watkins said.

It was a completely unprovoked attack by the 23-year-old who has a long history of violence, the city’s crown court was told.

A victim impact statement revealed the ongoing consequences of the assault: “I now have physical scars which look terrible and they have affected my self-confidence.

“There's also an affect to the visibility in my eye as I sometimes have blurring in my vision which I did not have before.”

She added: “I feel unsafe and worried about going out so I don't go out as much as I used to because I'm scared of further attacks.”

Thompson, of Park Avenue, Rogerstone, Newport admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm.

The offence took place on Tuesday, April 12, 2022.

The defendant has 13 convictions for 27 offences.

These include five for battery and one for assaulting an emergency worker.

He was locked up for 54 months in 2019 for supplying heroin and crack cocaine.

Jac Brown representing Thompson admitted: “No excuse can be made for what was a cowardly and unprovoked attack on someone who Mr Thompson didn't know.

“The best mitigation in this case is perhaps the timely guilty plea entered at the earliest opportunity which has avoided the complainant from having to retell this incident in open court

“You would also have noticed the delay in this case and I would invite your honour to bear that in mind when passing sentence today.”

He added: “His partner has accompanied him to court today. She's four months pregnant with his child.

“The defendant has told me that he doesn't want his son to be like him.

“He wants his son to have a positive role model and he wants an active role in his son's life.”

Judge Matthew Porter-Bryant told Thompson: “This was an unprovoked attack where you struck with considerable force a member of the public who was riding a mobility scooter.

“It was an offence that occurred in broad daylight on the street.

“The only reason for the assault, it seems, was that you wanted the mobility scooter.

“You are a man, judging from your record, of violence.”

The defendant was jailed six months.