A Fife mother has told how she remains concussed six months after a vicious Christmas Day assault by kebab shop rioter Anne Marie Fowler.
Fowler was jailed for 22 months this week after subjecting Carrie Rapson to a “bizarre” and vicious holiday attack.
Fowler, of Kelty, battered Carrie Rapson unconscious at Lochleven Terrace and left her with severe injuries, with which she is still learning to live.
Christmas 2020 had been the first Carrie had fully embraced since losing a loved one, but all the 41-year-old remembers of Christmas Day or Christmas Eve is making a pot of soup.
She said: “Christmas Day had been really good and I went to bed at about 9pm because I was shattered.
“We knew the lockdown was restarting on Boxing Day and my daughter Daisy had presents to exchange with a friend a few doors up so I said she could go out and do that.
“As she was heading back with two friends, she could see Anne Marie Fowler arguing with two men who were fighting.
“They crossed the road, but Anne Marie started chasing them.”
33-year-old mother Fowler had claimed Carrie’s 13-year-old daughter had laughed at her in the street.
“She followed them into the house and Daisy hid in my bedroom,” Carrie said.
“She came right into my house kicking doors.
“She came into my bedroom. It happened really fast and my husband ragdolled her outside.
“When she was out in the drive, she started kicking and punching my husband’s car, screaming.”
Unconscious
Carrie said: “I’d woken up but I was half asleep. I wandered out in my pyjamas and bare feet to see what was happening and she’s grabbed me.
“She grabbed my head and smashed it off the fencepost and wouldn’t let go.
“I was really wobbly and she just started punching me.
“It’s wooden and metal, and I don’t know what broke my nose.
“My daughter watched everything, all the children in the street saw – it was still early.
“People were trying to get her off me. I lost lots of hair.
“I was unconscious for about an hour.
“My other daughter had to keep me upright to stop me choking on the blood as I was dipping in and out of consciousness.”
Carrie was rushed to hospital, where experts were concerned she might have bleeding on her brain.
She said: “I remember being in an ambulance but that I couldn’t give my name or date of birth.
“I woke up in hospital where I was given morphine and the next place I woke up was in the CT room.”
Ongoing nightmare
Almost six months later, Carrie is still concussed and needs more medical checks next month.
Her memory loss has led to her flooding her bathroom and forgetting she has cooking on.
She is most annoyed about not being able to remember Christmas Day.
Self-employed Carrie runs her own cleaning business and could not return to work until February.
She says she and Daisy have not been the same people since the festive nightmare.
“I couldn’t walk in a straight line.
“I had nose bleeds and the right hand side of my head is still sore.
“I couldn’t sleep so I needed tablets for that but I’m coming off them.
“Now we’ve got a security doorbell and cameras inside and out.
“I’m not the same person I used to be and I still think about it every day.
“I’m a Munro bagger and I used to walk the West Highland Way every year but I can’t do that now.”
Notorious criminal
Already notorious thanks to a viral video of her going on a rampage through a Falkirk kebab shop, Fowler was on a 7pm to 7am curfew when she carried out the ferocious attack at 10pm.
“We’d recognised her when she moved in,” Carrie said.
“It was about September so she’d only been there a few months.
“She must have been absolutely hammered.
“If it wasn’t me, it could have been a child.
“She was gunning for anyone and I was the unlucky one. It could have been a child.”
Prison only option
A prison sentence is the only punishment Carrie saw fit, and this view was shared by Sheriff Jamie Gilchrist.
Fowler appeared at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court by video link on Monday, where she was jailed for 22 months and banned from approaching her victim for three years.
She admitted assaulting Carrie by seizing her by the hair, dragging her along the ground, repeatedly punching her on the head and striking her head against a fencepost.
The sheriff said: “This was an utterly disgraceful set of circumstances.
“You chased two children into a home. When parents intervened, you assaulted one, rendering her unconscious.
“It is utterly unrealistic to consider anything other than custody.”
After sentencing, Carrie said: “I’m so happy, which sounds bizarre.
“She should have got longer but I’m happy.
“Fife Council were fantastic.
“They changed the locks on her flat on December 27 and promised she won’t be getting housed in Kelty again.”
