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Two men who repeatedly punched and kicked another man and left him unconscious on the ground after a fight in Lilly’s Mini Market have each been jailed for 15 months.
The victim of the brutal attack by 19-year-old Jordan Francis Jordan and 20-year-old Jordan Anthony McGonagle had had to be flown to Southampton Hospital for treatment by brain specialists.
The victim spent five days in Southampton Hospital, and has reported sleepiness and memory problems ever since.
Neither Jordan nor McGonagle had previous convictions, but Jurats at the Royal Court decided that the grave and criminal assault was so serious that non-custodial sentences could not be justified.
Both were sent to youth detention for 15 months.
The assault happened after a fight in Lilly’s Mini Market, a shop and bar in La Motte Street, on the evening of 9 May.
The victim was drinking in the premises, alongside Jordan and McGonagle.
The fight started when a member of staff at Lilly's asked the victim to leave the premises.
He reacted badly to this request, and attempted to headbutt the staff member, before being pulled away by a friend.
This resulted in the victim falling to the floor. When he got up, he lashed out at the individuals around him.
Jordan and McGonagle then became involved in the brawl.
At one point, Jordan picked up a chair and attempted to hit the victim with it, but missed and hit McGonagle instead.
After more punches were thrown, McGonagle pushed the victim towards the front door of Lily’s, holding him by his left cheek.
Once outside, the victim fell to the ground and McGonagle kicked him in the back.
The victim got up and McGonagle punched him twice on the left side of his face.
Almost immediately after, the victim was punched by Jordan on the right side of his jaw.
He fell to the ground unconscious, hitting his head on the pavement.
Crown Advocate Lauren Hallam told the court that one bystander said: "I think he’s dead."
Jordan and McGonagle fled the scene. CCTV from later that evening showed them shadow boxing and walking through the town centre topless.
Their T-shirts were found dumped in a bin outside McDonald’s the next day.
The assault was also captured on a phone video which was then circulated on social media platform Snapchat and obtained by police.
On 11 May, police published an appeal for information with images of Jordan and McGonagle.
Jordan was spotted by police officers outside the Norfolk Hotel that same day, and was arrested on suspicion of grave and criminal assault.
McGonagle handed himself in at Police Headquarters three days later.
In police interview, Jordan was shown the Snapchat footage of the assault and CCTV from the Snow Hill area. In response, he said: "It does look like me to be fair.”
Both Jordan and McGonagle entered guilty pleas on their first appearances in court.
In the Royal Court today, Crown Advocate Hallam argued that the offence was too serious for non-custodial sentences and argued for youth detention sentences of two years each.
Advocate Allana Binnie, defending Jordan, described the attack as “an unplanned, spur of the moment, reaction”.
She said that Jordan had certain mental health problems, but pointed out: “He does not try to hide behind them. My client does accept total responsibility.”
She said he felt genuine remorse towards the victim and his family, and argued: “He should and could be given a chance.”
Advocate Paul Nicholls, defending McGonagle, added: “What we are concerned with here is a brawl which the victim started. The two young men overstepped the mark.”
The prosecution had argued that Jordan and McGonagle were equally to blame, but referring to the CCTV footage, Advocate Nicholls asked: “Who is more culpable here? Who is responsible for hospitalising the victim? It is not my client.”
However both men received identical sentences.
Bailiff Sir Timothy Le Cocq said: “The serious of the offending and its consequences mean that we cannot appropriately deal with this with non-custodial disposal.”
Jordan and McGonagle were also each ordered to pay the victim £790 in compensation.
The Jurats sitting were Robert Christensen and Alison Opferman.
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