![\"Wales](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/80da\/live\/42c8a700-d44a-11f0-ac6d-6bfa04025ec3.jpg.webp\")
Wales News Service<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nA grandmother who suffered broken ribs and a punctured lung in an assault by a pregnant stranger at a funeral wake said she was “disgusted” her attacker avoided jail time. <\/p>\n Belinda Strickland, 65, was attending a friend’s funeral when 39-year-old mother-of-three Danielle Oliver threw herself at the unsuspecting grandmother without warning. <\/p>\n Ms Strickland was also left with breathing difficulties and a lasting diagnosis of emphysema after the attack at the Conservative Club in Splott, Cardiff, <\/b>on 9 June last year.<\/p>\n Oliver, who was 22 weeks pregnant at the time of the attack, was given a 66-week sentence, suspended for two years, at Cardiff Crown Court in July.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n “I am disgusted at the sentence,” said the grandmother-of-14. “She has walked free while I continue to live with the consequences.”<\/p>\n Ms Strickland, who is retired, said she was attending the funeral of her best friend’s partner when “all hell broke loose”.<\/p>\n “I felt a hard punch to the side of my head,” she recalled. “Pain tore through my face and the next thing I knew I was on the floor, dazed and completely disorientated.”<\/p>\n Ms Strickland said she believed she was “going to die” in the attack that began just as mourners were about to raise a toast to the deceased.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The grandmother said she “staggered up on to my feet” with the help of her partner Rob. <\/p>\n “People were gathering around me, there was a real commotion,” she said. “I looked up and I saw a woman screaming hysterically at me. <\/p>\n “Staff had to virtually drag her out of the exit.<\/p>\n “I’d never seen her before, she was a complete stranger to me and I had no idea why she had punched me.”<\/p>\n Ms Strickland said she lost consciousness while she was being driven to the city’s University of Wales Hospital by a bartender, waking up in intensive care a few days later.<\/p>\n She had five broken ribs on her right side and a fractured rib on the left and one of the ribs had punctured her lung.<\/p>\n “Doctors told me I was very lucky to be alive,” she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Her four daughters were at the hospital, holding her hand and waiting for her to wake up, she said, adding: “They didn’t know if I was going to die.”<\/p>\n Ms Strickland said she was already registered disabled with arthritis and a heart complaint and had undergone two hip replacements before the attack.<\/p>\n “I spent 12 days in hospital recovering after fighting for my life,” she said. <\/p>\n “This woman was a complete stranger to me. I had absolutely no idea why she would want to hurt me.”<\/p>\n Her attacker was now “woven into my everyday life”, Ms Strickland said.<\/p>\n “I will never be the same again because of what she did. <\/p>\n “I won’t even go to the supermarket alone anymore.<\/p>\n “Danielle Oliver has never apologised to me for what she did or shown any remorse. I could have died that day.<\/p>\n “I am still in a lot of pain because of the attack and life will never be the same again for me.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Police used CCTV footage from the club to identify Oliver, who was caught two days after the attack.<\/p>\n During sentencing, Judge Simon Mills said: “Even brief incidents of violence can have catastrophic consequences.<\/p>\n “Any idea that a single blow to the face doesn’t do any harm is completely wide of the mark. <\/p>\n “You could today have been facing prosecution for manslaughter.<\/p>\n “I have heard you are surprised by the seriousness of your victim’s injuries. <\/p>\n “Well, I’m afraid in the job that I do I see all of the time how momentary acts of violence have very serious consequences and sometimes fatal consequences.<\/p>\n “Once you lay your hands on someone else in such a way then the consequences can be truly catastrophic and they arguably have been in this case.”<\/p>\n He added: “I am not going into the background of why you made the decision you did. <\/p>\n “You were pregnant at the time and I’m aware your medication had to be adjusted.<\/p>\n “An issue was brought to your attention which caused you to make completely the wrong decision.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![](\"https:\/\/static.files.bbci.co.uk\/bbcdotcom\/web\/20251203-121739-f954f14c69-web-2.35.1-2\/grey-placeholder.png\")
![\"Wales](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/8402\/live\/00dce6e0-d44e-11f0-8b57-d3fa96717fb2.jpg.webp\")
Wales News Service<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n‘Fighting for my life’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
![\"Wales](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/007e\/live\/4be85e70-d44f-11f0-8b57-d3fa96717fb2.jpg.webp\")
Wales News Service<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n