A teenager has been jailed after emulating a banned wrestling move on a young man during a drunken fight in Liberation Square, leading him to have emergency surgery in the UK.
Appearing in the Royal Court on Friday, Charlie Hackett Robinson (18) was sentenced to two-and-a-half years’ youth detention after dropping his former football teammate on his head in a move compared to the outlawed "pile driver" or "slam dunk" manoeuvre - leaving onlookers fearing for the victim's life.
The Court heard that, fortunately, the young victim is recovering well after being flown to Southampton where he received emergency head surgery to remove a blood clot from his brain as a result of the incident earlier this year.
Crown Advocate Emma Hollywood appeared for the prosecution and the Court was shown CCTV footage of the assault, which took place in the early hours of Easter Monday. Before the viewing, the Deputy Bailiff warned members of the public about the graphic content of the footage.
Pictured: The entire assault was captured on CCTV.
Robinson broke down whilst watching the footage and remained emotional throughout the rest of his sentencing.
Detailed eyewitness accounts of the attack, which were shared with the Court by the prosecutor, described it as “horrific in its sudden brutality”.
One young woman, who was in Liberation Square when the fight between the young men broke out, explained how she tried to break the two of them up.
Detailing the assault, she recalled: “[The victim’s] legs were to the sky and his head facing down. [Robinson] then slammed [the victim] down to the ground, I heard his head hit the ground, it was exactly like the sound of slamming a five-kilo gym ball to the floor.”
She went on to say: “Looking back, I feel disgusted this could happen in Jersey. I genuinely thought that the guy had died."
Pictured: The assault took place in Liberation Square outside Liberty Wharf.
A member of nightclub security who also witnessed the attack described it as “the worst assault I have seen in my five years of being a doorman.”
Crown Advocate Hollywood told the Court that the consequences of Robinson’s actions “were extremely serious” and that his victim will have “permanent scarring” and has been fitted with a plate in his skull.
In a statement describing how he has been affected by the attack, the victim said that he had been “suffer[ing] with anxiety and sleeplessness” since the incident.
He spoke about how the injuries have meant he cannot ride the new motorbike he recently bought himself and that the recovery time has meant that he’s “falling behind” with his education when he “had been at the top of his class".
He stated: “I feel like Charlie has ruined my life for more than six months… he’s put it on hold [and] I can’t do the things I love the most.”
Adding to this, the Crown Advocate remarked: “A young man that has shown great promise does not know what the future holds… [or] when he will return to some sense of normality.”
For what was dubbed a demonstration of “significant and disproportionate violence”, the prosecution invited the Court to impose a period of three years' youth detention.
Pictured: The teenager was sentenced in Jersey's highest court.
Making her case to the Court, Advocate Francesca Pinel – representing Robinson – emphasised that the manoeuvre was “an instinctive action as the situation escalates” and that her client’s behaviour constituted “a momentary loss of temper… not a sustained bout of violence.”
She described the assault as “a short incident which thankfully did not result in life changing injuries or permanent disability."
Advocate Pinel asked the Court to consider her client’s guilty plea and young age, urging them to impose either a lower term of youth detention than that asked for by the Crown or a community service order.
The Deputy Bailiff Tim Le Cocq presided over the hearing and the case was heard by Jurats Thomas and Averty.
Handing down the Court’s decision, the Deputy Bailiff noted that the assault was “described as horrible, horrific, disgusting and we fully understand that description.”
Characterising the offence as “sickening”, the Court found that the assault was “done deliberately”, but they disagreed with the prosecution, ruling “we do not think it was done in cold blood.”
In Robinson’s favour, the Court took into account his guilty plea, his remorse, age and the fact this is his first offence as well as a number of positive character references.
Ultimately, however, due to the seriousness of the offence, the Court did not feel they could impose a non-custodial sentence and imposed a two-and-a-half-year term of youth detention.
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