New Year's Day fight costs man 30 months in jail

A man has been jailed for two and a half years after he pleaded guilty to breaking a man’s nose in Paceville yesterday morning, whilst already under a suspended sentence.

Sakariye Abdirahman Hassan, 23, from Somalia, was accused by inspector Matthew Spagnol of slightly injuring the male victim on January 1 at 8:30am in St. George’s Road Paceville. He was also accused of breaching a suspended sentence which he had received in May last year for similar charges.

Inspector Matthew Spagnol explained that yesterday morning police station received a call about a fight outside Wembley Garage. The victim was found unconscious on the ground, he said. Acting on initial reports that two persons had attacked the man, the police had detained two people at first, but one was later released without charge, explained the inspector.

The accused stood with his hands in his pockets as the charges against him were read, the court noting that the victim had suffered a fractured nasal bone. The victim was drunk and had fallen to the ground during the altercation, hitting his head, but the fracture of the nasal bone and facial bruises were inflicted by the accused, said the inspector.

Lawyer Marita Pace Dimech, legal aid to the accused, told the court that Hassan was pleading guilty. The court explained that due to the fact that the man was a recidivist and had been given a two-year suspended sentence in May last year for grievous bodily harm, he would very likely be jailed for at least two years. However, the accused said he would still be pleading guilty, even when told he could retract his plea. “No. Guilty,” he said.

Magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras noted that the accused had been found guilty twice in the past, the last time being for a very similar offence.

In his submissions on punishment, Inspector Spagnol told the court that the man had been given a chance by the previous court and had chosen to throw it away. “He is proving to the State that he cannot be trusted to learn from his actions and we cannot but insist on a prison term.”

In its considerations on sentencing, the court took into account the early guilty plea and the criminal record of the accused. It said it had no option but to sentence the accused to imprisonment. Hassan was jailed for 6 months for the assault to which were added the 2 years suspended sentence that had been rendered active.