A Deliveroo rider bit off a customer’s thumb during a blazing row after she delivered his £57 Pizza Express order to the wrong address.
Jeniffer Rocha, 35, now faces prison after she gnawed Stephen Jenkinson’s thumb down to the knuckle during the freak attack in Aldershot, Hampshire.
Winchester Crown Court heard today the pair had a brief argument over a delivery code before the Brazilian delivery worker attacked the 36-year-old plumber, who has been left ‘permanently disabled’ and unable to work.
Following the attack, Mr Jenkinson was rushed to hospital where he underwent an 11 hour operation which saw part of his big toe surgically sewn on to the stump of his missing thumb.
Rocha, who was due to face trial for grievous bodily harm with intent, today pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm without intent. She will be sentenced at a later date.
Jeniffer Rocha, 35, (pictured outside Winchester Crown Court today) now faces prison after she gnawed Stephen Jenkinson’s thumb off down to the knuckle during the freak attack in Aldershot, Hampshire
Mr Jenkinson, a 36-year-old plumber, has been left ‘permanently disabled’ and unable to work
Mr Jenkinson was rushed to hospital on December 14 2022 where he underwent an 11 hour operation which saw part of his big toe surgically sewn on to the stump of his missing thumb
Prosecutor Rebecca Austin told the court: ‘The impact on the victim has been devastating. He has been left with a permanent disability and a part of his toe being removed. It has had a physical and psychological impact and continues to this day.’
The court heard Mr Jenkinson ordered pizza from Deliveroo to his home on December 14, 2022 but Rocha arrived to the wrong address further down his street.
When he went out to collect his food the father-of-one forgot to bring his phone and a brief argument erupted regarding the delivery code he was required to show.
It was then that Rocha launched her attack, Mr Jenkinson told the BBC. He raised her hands to Rocha’s motorcycle helmet and she bit his thumb.
‘All I remember, I was shaking her helmet trying to get her off’, he told the BBC. ‘The force with which she must have been biting, she’d clean taken it off.’
When she eventually let go, Mr Jenkinson lifted his arm and ‘sprayed her with blood’.
He said his thumb, which was severed just above the knuckle, looked as thought it had ‘gone through a chainsaw’.
Neighbours began to intervene in the argument with Rocha later arrested.
Mr Jenkinson, 34 , pictured with his then partner Jessica Seymour, 33, in 2022 following the attack
Mr Jenkinson said his thumb, which was severed just above the knuckle, looked as thought it had ‘gone through a chainsaw’
Brazilian born Rocha, who has citizenship in the UK until 2028, will be sentenced at a later date
He previously told the Sun: ‘After realising the driver couldn’t find us I messaged her asking her to come to my address, but she refused and told me to come to her, so I did.
‘I ran out the house without my phone and when she asked for the code, I said I’ll take the pizzas and come back with it, but she was having none of it.
‘She immediately went for me, punching and kicking me, but I didn’t want to hit a woman so I just pushed her, that’s when my thumb ended up in her mouth and she just clamped down until it came off.’
Mr Jenkinson, a plumber by trade, said he has been unable to work and had to relearn basic tasks like tying shoelaces and doing up buttons.
Speaking to the BBC today, he said: ‘Financially, I’m ruined. I’m unemployed. I’m in a massive amount of debt and I don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.’
His relationship with the mother of his newborn daughter has also broke down, the broadcaster reported.
‘I have to live with this for the rest of my life,’ Mr Jenkinson said.
He said has received nothing from Deliveroo.
Addressing Rocha in court, Judge Timothy Mousley KC said it was a ‘serious offence which may well result in you being sent to prison’.
Rocha has citizenship in the UK until 2028.
Deliveroo said in a statement to the BBC that riders are self-employed.
A Deliveroo spokesperson told MailOnkine: ‘This was an awful incident. We ended the account of the rider concerned immediately and have fully cooperated with the police on the investigation.’
