A young woman has been left unable to work and scared to walk in a town centre alone after being attacked late at night.
Mercie Dow, 23, suffered a fractured skull in the ordeal. She recently sat down to bravely share her story with reporter Simon Finlay and how she hopes some good can come out of it…
On August 4, Mercie enjoyed a quiet, if unremarkable, evening in Ye Olde Thirsty Pig in Maidstone, working on a piece of embroidery.
Over the course of the visit, she had drunk three pints and at the 11pm bell started to make her way home from the Knightrider Street pub.
Her normal journey would take her over College Road and onto the rough, pebble strewn pathway, known as the Hoseway, alongside All Saints Church.
Like most 23-year-olds, she was concentrating more on her phone than she was about what was happening around her.
Unknown to her, she was being pursued by a stranger. What happened next, has changed Mercie’s life completely, possibly undoing her largely successful fight to overcome a “rough” childhood and mental health issues.
Sitting on a pew at All Saints, she recalls: “I didn’t notice anything wrong but, in fact, I was being followed as I walked towards the Archbishop’s Palace, probably because I was looking down at my phone.
“Then I sensed a shadow behind me and this man grabbed me. It happened so quickly. I fell over to my right and it was obvious that he wanted my bag.
“The strap was across my chest and he grabbed the strap to throw me to the ground on the other side of the path. This time I landed on my head, causing a fracture to my skull.
“He took my bag but in the attack my wallet and my phone had fallen out, so he didn’t get them. But I was left with a hole in my head.”
Her attacker ran off down the slope towards the Millennium Bridge over the River Medway.
Mercie recounts the events in a calm, matter-of-fact way and holds herself in an almost serene manner. But her appearance is deceptive.
Little things come back to her as she tells her story, such as remembering the smell of cannabis in the air, but doesn’t know if it came from her attacker, and the fact she scrabbled around on the ground, covered in blood, to recover her phone.
Mercie, who is now deemed unfit to work, has no idea who called the police and does not recall much after she suffered her head injury, except that she ended up in hospital.
When her clothing was returned to her, it was “caked” in blood, including a ruined wig she wears as a result of alopecia.
Mercie also suffered extensive cuts and bruising to her legs, hands and arms and suffered problems with balance for many weeks after the attack which she puts down to a possible ear injury.
“Before this happened I didn’t really like the police very much but I have to say they did a really good job,” she says.
“They caught this man the same night, although they weren’t able to recover my bag. They also kept in touch with me the whole way through the process, so I have no complaints.”
Mercie had to go to court to give evidence, although was spared the ordeal of facing her assailant Jordan MacDonald, of Regency Place, Maidstone, at the town’s crown court earlier this year. She was cross-examined by the defence barrister via a remote TV link.
She is keen to see the CCTV footage recovered by police which showed her attacker following her but not the attack itself.
“It would be helpful for me to see what went wrong because I have no idea, really, how it happened.”
MacDonald was found guilty by the jury of robbery and is yet to be sentenced but the judge’s direction for an assessment of his “dangerousness” could indicate a stiff sentence awaits him.
The value of the lost bag’s contents- make up, some jewellery and personal items – was negligible but the effects of that night have not left her.
It is clear the ordeal has had a profound effect and will only walk home at night if she has a companion, otherwise she will call a cab.
“I still jump if a shadow is close to me, even during the day, and I grab my bag and my heart feels like it’s about to fall out. I just feel shaky and duck into a shop. It still happens all the time,” she says.
“People tell me that it will get better and I am trying to get over it, but it’s so hard.”
Mercie did not know her assailant and nothing of his background.
The young woman has had her fair share of mental health problems and was diagnosed autistic at seven years old.
“I have had a pretty rough background and I have been homeless twice but I have never resorted to stealing,” she says.
“Just because people have problems, whatever they are, doesn’t give you the excuse to act this way.
“And just because I dress in a certain way, people might think I have money but I don’t. I buy most of my clothes second hand or save up for them.”
She is clearly upset by antisocial behaviour in the town – smoking “weed” and vandalising property – which she feels is committed mainly by youths.
So what does she think is causing this?
“I think it’s Maidstone,” she says simply, “If you’re alone, you are a target, it seems.”
By highlighting her experience, she hopes the authorities will look at the area where she was attacked to see if it can be made safer and apply the same thinking to other parts of the borough.
Mercie is friends with the newly-elected Reform UK county councillor Oliver Bradshaw who says, according to his research, there have been seven episodes of violence in the area in the past year.
Cllr Bradshaw, who represents the area at County Hall, says the place could be made safer by better lighting and more comprehensive CCTV in the Hoseway, which runs from College Road to the banks of the Medway.
She adds: “It’s a problem that could be fixed. There is a lot of low level crime, drug taking and antisocial behaviour although I believe that better lighting and CCTV could help to make it less attractive.
“If people get away with small things then it seems to follow that things can escalate and people don’t even get a slap on the wrist. People don’t feel safe because parts are badly lit and I don’t think it’s right that people should feel unsafe.”
The local Liberal Democrat borough councillor Cllr Clive English, whose High Street ward covers the Hoseway, said there is a review underway to assess the lighting in the area.
The deputy leader of Maidstone Borough Council concedes the ornate street lanterns are “quite elderly” and sometimes the target for vandals.
“I’m not saying there aren’t problems there but I am also happy to have a look at the camera situation to see what can be done,” he says.
