Magees Bar gkfh63
A BELCOO man, who smashed a glass in the face of another young man, has been jailed for a year at Dungannon Crown Court.
21-year-old Mark Mellor, Crom Cruaich Way, Belcoo pleaded guilty to wounding John Carey with intent to do him grievous bodily harm on June 14 last year.
The incident happened in the foyer of Magee’s Bar, Enniskillen, the court was told.
The defendant was given a total of 30 months in jail but Judge Stephen Fowler ordered that he spend the last 18 months on licence on his release to get help with his alcohol and legal high drugs issues.
The judge said the sentence would normally be 15 months in custody and 15 months on licence, but the court was prepared to vary the sentence to 18 months on licence on his release to allow the defendant to get help for his legal high and alcohol issues.
In jailing the young man, Judge Fowler said the matter was so serious that “only a custodial sentence could be justified”. The blow was so severe that the glass was smashed.
The injured party suffered significant cuts and abrasions and luckily there was no more serious injury caused as a result of the glass attack. The judge recommended that Mellor engage is substance misuse programmes on his release from prison.
A Prosecutor told the court earlier the defendant and the victim exchanged words in the foyer of Magee’s Bar Enniskillen on June 14.
Mellor was captured on CCTV, holding a glass in his right hand.
The defendant held the glass with the forward side pointing towards the injured party.
He then stood beside the victim for 3-5 seconds before “driving the glass deliberately into the face of the injured party”.
The glass shattered and the victim said he remembered nothing about the incident or what it had been about. When initially questioned, the defendant fully accepted his guilt. He said he did not meant to do it and his life was ruined as he had intended going to the US and would not be able to go there now.
The defendant said he had been coming off legal highs and had been addicted to them.
The court was told the victim had three stiches in his face, three sutures for wounds, and abrasions to his cheek, left eye, left year, a swollen face as well as head injuries.
The defendant had two previous incidents of disorderly conduct but nothing at the level of the offence before the court.
Defence counsel said the defendant initially did not quite appreciate the severity of the matter.
But it had weighed very heavily on him in coming to terms with the fact that he would be going to prison for a long time, the court heard.
The defendant should be given maximum credit for early admissions and the somewhat unusual plea to the charge before the court.
At interview with police, he had his head in his arms and had difficulty on watching CCTV footage of the incident. He said he did not remember what happened and was weeping during interview.
The counsel said this was not self- pity and a sign of real remorse.
He said the defendant had two previous minor convictions but was the “antithesis of an individual who appear before the court”.
He had dropped out of education and became addicted to legal highs, but managed to win a place at university but dropped out as things went awry and it was during his withdrawal from legal highs and drink that the offence was committed in June 2016.
To read more.. Subscribe to current edition
Receive quality journalism wherever you are, on any device. Keep up to date from the comfort of your own home with a digital subscription.
Any time | Any place | Anywhere