A Patchway man has been jailed for nine years and four months after he attacked a fellow party guest with a hammer, causing him brain damage, reports the Bristol Post.
Matthew Bennett, 26, of Cranbourne Road, attacked Jon Brooks at a gathering in Cedar Close in the early hours of Christmas Day 2012.
At the time, police reported that they were called to the incident at around 2:15am, describing it as a “verbal altercation that then turned physical”.
Bristol Crown Court heard Bennett took exception when Mr Brooks made what he took to be a racist comment.
Bennett then went to his girlfriend’s home, collected a claw hammer, and hit Mr Brooks in the head and on the leg.
Judge Neil Ford told Bennett:
“You accept that what you did was a wholly disproportionate, wicked and dangerous act. You aimed a blow at him with the intention of causing really serious harm.”
Bennett pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent, having been cleared of an original charge of attempted murder.
The victim was initially paralysed down his right side, and has had to re-learn how to talk and move.
Read more: Man attacked fellow guest with hammer at Christmas party
One less scum bag on the streets of patchway committing cowardly acts such as this, surprised at the length of sentence though Courts usually give about 5 years for GBH/WI but im sure the 4 years and 8 months he’ll spend in a prison cell before being released will be liitle consolation to the victim.