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Now had he fined them a month's wages it would have really hit them in the pocket! What they have to pay is worth just a few hours work!
No justice as far as I can see!
Pair in court after being captured on CCTV carrying out brutal Norwich assault
KIM BRISCOE
25 November 2009 11:00
A pipe fitter and his friend have narrowly escaped jail, instead being “hit in the pockets” with hefty fines for punching and kicking a man while on a night out in Norwich.
Christopher Page and Daniel Walpole, both 23, were told they should be “thoroughly ashamed of themselves” for their part in an altercation which happened in Cathedral Street, off Prince of Wales Road, on Saturday, August 29.
Both defendants admitted assault causing actual bodily harm when they appeared at Norwich Crown Court yesterday.
The court was shown CCTV footage of the incident, which started with an argument with a girl. The victim, Scott Ellis, was seen helping her away from the pair, before going over to remonstrate with them.
The footage showed them punching him and then kicking him while he lay on the ground.
Judge Peter Jacobs described it as “an absolutely disgraceful incident”.
He said: “Every year you get some incidents like this and every year, in most of the major towns and cities, as a result of some incidents like this some people die. It's a fact. The courts are littered with murder and manslaughter cases that arise out of incidents like this.”
He added: “It hasn't been explained, and I don't want to hear, what the confrontation was between you and the girl.
“I accept the complainant did come up to you and starting arguing after the incident was over but there were plenty of points you could have just walked away, even after the first punch was thrown.
“What is frightening is what I saw on the dvd - the way in which, while he was on the floor the kicks were put in.
“They weren't the hardest kicks I have seen, but they were to the stomach, ribs and chest - a vulnerable part of the body and it was in a public place with others passing by and watching.
“You couldn't complain if you went to prison.”
Page, who lives in Drayton Wood Road, Hellesdon, and who told the court he earned £2,500 a month as a pipe fitter, admitted a further offence of possessing cocaine, for which he was fined £250.
The court heard how Walpole, of Cedar Avenue, Spixworth, is a pipe fitter's mate who earns £1,900 a month and how the defendants had felt “sick to the stomach” when they watched back the CCTV footage.
Judge Jacobs said they would have been incarcerated if their kicks had been to Mr Ellis's head. However, he took into account they were both employed and able to carry out unpaid work.
He added: “You are employed and if I put you in prison you will be deprived of employment which is always the dilemma in these cases so what I'm going to do is hit you in the pockets.”
The pair were given six-month suspended sentences and ordered to carry out 61 hours of unpaid work in the community. Both defendants were also each fined £500, ordered to pay £250 compensation to Mr Ellis and £600 towards court and prosecution costs. They were warned they would be jailed for 28 days if they defaulted on the payment of the fines.
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Hi Liz, that is frightening to think because those fellows are in enployment that they should not go to jail.
The judge should have fined them at least a months wages to be given to the victims and imprisoned them on the drugs charges.
It might have made them think when they came back out and have to get another job. Did the judge not thinkthat by not hitting the person in the head that he might not have died from a heart attack or something else by doing it in the ribs and chest and by telling them that it was in a public place that he was giving them premission to do it somewhere quite and private in the future.The law here to is gone to pieces.
Lily.
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Makes me mad too Lily, what kind of deterrent is that punishment?
Will answer your pm in a mo,
LIzx
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