A Deliveroo driver has pleaded guilty to biting a customer’s thumb off during an argument over a pizza.
Jennifer Rocha, 35, attacked Stephen Jenkinson after he ordered a pizza from the delivery app to his home and she went to the wrong address.
Brazilian-born Rocha had been working as a ‘substitute’ driver using another rider’s account when the attack took place in December 2022.
The married mother-of-two could face jail after admitting grievous bodily harm without intent at Winchester Crown Courts yesterday.
The court heard Mr Jenkinson’s right thumb was completely severed just above the knuckle.
The father of one – who said Rocha bit him with the power of “a chainsaw” – had to have part of his big toe surgically sewn on to the stump of his thumb, and faces difficulty performing basic tasks.
Prosecutor Rebecca Austin told the court Mr Jenkinson, 36, who worked as a plumber before the incident, remained “permanently disabled”.
She said, “The impact on the victim has been devastating. It has had a physical and psychological impact and continues to do so to this day.”
The court heard Mr Jenkinson ordered pizza from Deliveroo to his home near Aldershot, Hampshire, on December 14, 2022.
However, Rocha arrived at the wrong address and when Mr Jenkinson went there to collect his food, he forgot to take his phone with him which was required to show a delivery code for proof of purchase.
Mr Jenkinson told the BBC, “All I remember, I was shaking her helmet trying to get her off. The force with which she must have been biting, she’d clean taken it off.”
She eventually let go, at which point he lifted up his arm and “sprayed her with blood”.
Mr Jenkinson said he has been unable to work and had to re-learn basic tasks such as tying shoelaces and doing up buttons.
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.”
Mr Jenkinson said he has received nothing from Deliveroo, while also raising concerns over how the company scrutinises its drivers.
A Deliveroo spokesman said the driver’s account had been terminated after the “awful incident”.
But they added the company was not legally responsible as Rocha was working as a substitute rather than an employee. Rocha will be sentenced in May.