A TEENAGER who launched a devastating attack which left his victim with a fractured skull has been jailed for 13 months.
Sentencing Thomas Robinson (19) at Newry Crown Court, Judge Neil Rafferty KC warned the defendant “we could have been dealing with a different type of case today".
Warning that deterrent sentences had to be imposed, the judge declared: “There have been far too many incidents involving young males in public attacking other young males in so-called one punch manslaughter or murder cases where one punch is delivered, the victim goes unconscious and the unconscious body falls unprotected to the ground, the head hits the ground with an impact that causes a brain injury".
At an earlier hearing Robinson, from Woodvale Avenue in Belfast, entered a guilty plea to inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent on May 29 last year.
Judge Rafferty outlined how the victim, who was 18 at the time, was walking with two friends and encountered Robinson and his girlfriend coming the opposite way.
With the three friends laughing, Robinson demanded to know “are you laughing at my bird” and punched the victim and kicked him as he fell.
The victim landed with a “thud”, hitting his head on the ground. He sustained a fractured skull and bleeds on the brain and spent nine days in hospital, including a period when he was intubated, under sedation, on a ventilator.
He has made a good physical recovery, but still suffers from headaches and feels anxious and insecure in social settings.
Judge Rafferty said it was his view the victim “is blameless” and ordered Robinson to serve half his 26 month sentence in custody and half on licence.
