Head-butter gets nine-month sentence

Friday 01 July 2016

A 30-year-old Jersey roofer was sentenced to nine months in prison today for violently head-butting a man he believed was about to insult his late father, leaving the victim with a fractured jaw and two chipped teeth.

Alan Singh admitted assault for the attack which occurred outside the Halkett pub on February 5th. The Royal Court heard Singh had been drinking at the Halkett with his brother, Paul, when the two men became involved in a heated discussion with a former acquaintance of their late father.

The three men were outside the pub when the assault occurred at 11.40 pm. The pub doorman came over to them when he heard a fracas but Singh told him they were “just talking."

Singh’s brother then slapped the man across the face. The bouncer stepped between the two men in an effort to stop the fight but Singh lunged at the victim, head-butting him with sufficient force to fracture his jaw and chip two teeth.

“The doorman was facing Paul, with his back to the incident but heard a ‘crunching sound’ as the head-butt connected,” Crown Advocate David Hopwood told the court.

Singh and his brother then left the scene, but when interviewed by police, Singh admitted to the offence and said he believed the victim was going to insult his late father. “He was going to say something, but he didn’t get the opportunity,” he said.

Singh also told police if he had not been drinking it was unlikely that the attack would have occurred. “I would have probably walked away and not even given him the time of day, but here we are,” he said.

Defending Advocate James Turnbull said Singh had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity and was genuinely remorseful.

He said a social inquiry report concluded he was at low risk to violently re-offend and, if incarcerated, would find it difficult to pay compensation as he would lose his job.

However, in handing down Singh's sentence, Presiding Commissioner Julian Clyde-Smith, said the offence was “too serious” to justify a community service sentence.

He noted a previous court directive that “drink-fuelled violence on the streets of St Helier will attract a prison sentence.”

“People need to feel safe on a night out in St Helier, tourists need to feel safe,” Mr Clyde-Smith said. He also ordered that Singh pay his victim £1,190 in compensation within two years, in order to pay for the dental work the man required after the incident.