A woman has been convicted of assault after CCTV footage captured the moment she smashed a glass bottle over the back of a doorman's head.
Sophie Robson, 25, of Litherland, pleaded guilty to the charge at South Sefton Magistrates' Court and was handed 300 hours of community service and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £85 and costs of £85.
Her victim, 42-year-old Stephen Bond, was intervening in a street fight outside The Harbour Bar, in Waterloo, when Robson struck him over the head. Despite his wound gushing with blood, he continued to break up the brawling group of women.
Mr Bond is angry at the apparent leniency of Robson's sentence, saying that it the roles were reversed he would probably have been sent to prison.
There is some debate over whether or not Magistrates have imposed too lenient a sentence in this case. It must be stressed that the distant observer cannot know the full circumstances of the offence or the defendant. It does, however, strike us as odd that the Crown Prosecution Service elected to pursue a charge of common assault (a summary offence) in this case, when a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm (an either way offence) might have been more appropriate. Had Robson been convicted of the more serious charge she would have had a far greater chance of receiving an immediate custodial sentence.
The Magistrates can only deal with the charges laid before the court. If the CPS chooses to lay lesser charges, for whatever reason, then that is a matter entirely for it.
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