Ryan Stephen Murphy (32) and Nathan Peter Harrison (30) had been drinking with friends near Havre des Pas when they met their victim – who had also been drinking.
Witnesses from the nearby Residence de la Plage apartment block said that initially the interactions between the three men and the rest of the group they were with seemed to be ‘just drunken behaviour’ but shortly afterwards ‘it turned aggressive’.
The Royal Court heard that Murphy punched the victim and his ‘head went back and [he] went spark out’. Witnesses, who filmed some of the assault, reported that despite the first punch rendering the victim unconscious, Murphy continued to attack him.
Crown Advocate Richard Pedley, prosecuting, said: ‘The third male at the scene appears to try to take the victim’s pulse and comments that the victim is not breathing.
‘It was at this point Harrison becomes physically involved, slapping the victim several times to the left of his face. The victim was clearly unconscious.
‘The third male then started to administer mouth to mouth, but stopped as Murphy stepped in to pour orange liquid from a plastic bottle over the victim’s head.’
He added that the attack was ‘unprovoked’, although Murphy claimed that he hit his victim after allegedly seeing him reach into a female friend’s handbag.
The court heard that Murphy and Harrison then both slapped the victim. They claimed that their actions after the initial punch were an attempt to wake him up.
Murphy, who has a number of previous convictions including being jailed for five months earlier this year for grave and criminal assault, pleaded guilty to one count of grave and criminal assault while Harrison admitted one count of common assault. Murphy was jailed for 15 months and Harrison, who the court said had played a lesser role in the attack, was sentenced to a 12-month probation order.
Crown Advocate Pedley added: ‘The witnesses are clear that at no point did the victim offer any violence to the defendants, nor did he try to defend himself.
‘One described the attack as “horrific” and another remarked that he was struck by how unconcerned the two defendants were about the victim being unconscious.’
The victim, who suffered minimal injuries during the assault, told police that he could not remember the attack and only that he woke up the following morning with his face hurting.
Advocate Jeremy Heywood, defending Murphy, asked the court not to jail his client, instead suggesting that a community service order would be more appropriate.
He said: ‘Mr Murphy has entered a guilty plea, has expressed remorse for his actions and I would urge the court to consider carefully his letter of remorse.
‘The over-riding impression of that is that Mr Murphy might now finally have woken up and grown up.’
Advocate James Bell, defending Harrison, said that the 30-year-old had suffered a number of traumatic life experiences over the past few years and played a lesser role in the attack.
Delivering Murphy’s sentence, commissioner Sir Michael Birt, presiding, said: ‘Given your record, we think 18 months might have been the correct sentence.
‘We note though that at long last you have perhaps seen the light. You realise that you have wasted your life so far – going into prison, out again, getting into trouble, going back.
‘You say you are determined to change and because of that we are not going to increase the sentence beyond the Crown’s conclusions.’
Murphy reacted angrily to the sentence and slammed the court door as he was led away. Both men were also handed an exclusion order banning them from pubs for two years.
Jurats Anthony Olsen and Sally Sparrow were sitting.
