Shotton man jailed for assault which left victim with life-threatening injuries

Feb 4 2010 by Lois York, Flintshire Chronicle

A YOUNG man from Deeside has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years youth detention after a court heard he punched a middle-aged drunken man in an alleyway and left him with life-threatening injuries.

Mold Crown Court heard victim Joao Rato, a 41-year-old Portuguese National, had been on a life-support machine and was detained in hospital for weeks following a skull fracture and bleeding to the brain.

His attacker, Liam Stephen Edwards, 20, of Pippins Close, Shotton, who had never been in any trouble before was warned by a judge he could have killed him.

Judge John Rogers QC, sitting at Mold Crown Court, said Edwards’ victim was affected by alcohol and may well have been behaving boisterously.

“That did not constitute an excuse for what you did,” said the judge.

A CCTV clip was played to the court which showed Mr Rato walking from a kebab shop in Connah’s Quay High Street just after midnight one October Saturday night and Edwards and another young man following him to an alleyway.

“You and another young man then approached him. He was vulnerable, he was defenceless, you struck him with such force that he immediately fell backwards and was rendered unconscious.”

Mr Rato was rushed to the Countess of Chester Hospital and immediately transferred to the Walton neurological centre where his condition was critical.

The judge said in view of his guilty plea, his good work record, the fact he came from a good family and was of good character, the sentence was less than he had originally thought would be inevitable.