A pub customer celebrating a birthday was punched to the ground and suffered a fractured skull in a drunken assault, a court has heard. A judge told bricklayer Liam Pritchard that he could have caused fatal injuries when he delivered the blow which caused his to his victim to hit his head on a concrete floor and lose consciousness.
The victim underwent a CT scan after doctors feared he may have suffered a bleed on the brain. The defendant's advocate told Swansea Crown Court his client was a hard-working family man and was was not the kind of man who "regularly indulges in fisticuffs".
Alycia Carpanini, prosecuting, told the court the attack happened in The Coracle pub in the Penlan area of Swansea shortly before midnight on September 10 last year. The defendant was in the bar with friends, as was victim of the assault, Zachary Harris, who was out celebrating a friend's birthday.
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The court heard that during the course of the evening Pritchard and Mr Harris - who were not known to each other - began "bickering" after the defendant made comments to the stranger. The argument turned to pushing and shoving in a corridor leading to an outdoor smoking area, and the pair had to be separated. The prosecutor said Mr Harris and his friends walked off but 30-year-old Pritchard followed them and delivered a single blow to his victim's face which sent him crashing to the concrete floor and caused him to lose consciousness.
The court heard Mr Harris did not to hospital that night but two days later - when he was still experiencing head pain and loose teeth, and his family commented on how ill he looked - Mr Harris went to Morriston Hospital A&E department. Following concerns he had suffered a bleed on the brain Mr Harris underwent a CT scan and was found to have a fracture to the rear of the skull along with a "widening" between two skull bones. Medics also found blood behind his left ear drum. No bleeding on the brain was detected.
The defendant was arrested on September 17 and answered "no comment" to all questions asked in his interview. In an impact statement which as read to the court the victim said weeks after the assault he was still suffering with headaches and ringing in his ears, was having trouble sleeping, and was facing the prospect of dental surgery. He said the attack and knocked his confidence and left him concerned about going out. Mr Harris added that he had been unable to work for six weeks and had lost £2,000 in wages as a result
Liam Pritchard, of Cathan Crescent, Portmead, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has no previous convictions.
Clive Rees, for Pritchard, said the defendant was "not the kind of man who regularly indulges in fisticuffs" and "bitterly regrets" his actions on the night in question. He said it had to be accepted that "anything could have happened" when Mr Harris fell to the concrete floor. The advocate said said his client worked hard as a bricklayer to support his family, and he invited the court to pass a sentence which was not one of immediate custody.
Recorder David Harris said both the defendant and his victim had been drinking, and it was clear there had been a argument between them which required others to intervene. But he said Pritchard had not let the matter go, and had followed Mr Harris and delivered a sudden blow to his head the which caused the victim to strike his head on a concrete floor and suffer serious injury. He told the defendant that what he did could have caused fatal injuries to Mr Harris.
The recorder said the starting point for sentence for an assault of the kind before the court was six months custody, with a range from a high-level community order to 12 months custody. He said given everything he had read about the defendant in the pre-sentence report he was satisfied there was a realistic prospect of rehabilitation in his case.
With a one-third discount for his guilty plea Pritchard was sentenced to six months in prison suspended for 18 months, and was ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work in the community. He must also pay his victim £3,000 in compensation. The recorder told Pritchard: "You have come as close as it is possible to come to going through the doors behind you and into the cells. I have taken what some may regard as an exceptional course in suspending the sentence."
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