Adam Ashworth, 20, threw a microwave at victim Gul-fan Taj, 32, and then beat him up in a back alley.First time offender? Well…
Mr Taj was rescued after a bouncer walking home in the early hours heard screaming and saw the victim on the ground with the defendant sitting astride him, setting about him with his fists, Burnley Crown Court heard.
Ashworth, who has 52 previous convictions, first appeared in court in 2002 and had breached anti-social behaviour orders.*sigh*
I wonder what the ‘mitigation’ will be? Well, first out of the blocks is ‘The Demon Drink’:
Alexandra Simmonds, for Ashworth, said it would appear alcohol was the root of all his offending and the offence wouldn't have happened if he had not drunk to excess.Well, since he’s responsible for pouring the drink down his own throat, that’s no excuse at all. Next!
The defendant had done a lot of thinking and reflecting in custody and might finally be showing signs of growing up.Oh, please! He’s 20 – he’s done all the growing he’s ever likely to do!
He had a two-year-old son and knew he had let him down by spending the last two Christmases in prison.
Well, at least he isn’t up before a notoriously lenient jud…
Oh:
Sentencing, Judge Beverley Lunt told the defendant, said: “It’s very lucky for you that the injuries that this man suffered were not more severe.He got a year. If he serves 6 months of that, I’ll be astonished…
"You know the courts won’t tolerate violence like this on the streets and a prison sentence must follow.”
"Adam Ashworth, 20, threw a microwave at victim Gul-fan Taj, 32" ..
ReplyDeleteWell, I expect it was quicker than "grilling" him .. ;)
that’s no excuse at all. Next!
ReplyDeleteLouder: drunkeness is an aggravating factor, not a mitigating one.
Well,
ReplyDeleteMy understanding is that being drunk doesn't help your fighting abilities so the fact he failed to seriously harm his attackee doesn't sound like it was for the want of trying. Just a thought. WV - nomotive. Indeed.
He’s 20 – he’s done all the growing he’s ever likely to do!
ReplyDeleteGiven the amount of misdemeanour that Ashworth has packed into his life so far and the almost unversal tendency of his kind to reproduce at a an early age, perhaps the judiciary should be given a scale for converting moninal age into chav years.
My reckoning is that Ashworth - having spent 50% of his life in trouble with the law and 10% of it as a parent - should be considered the equivalent of a man of 30 and judged and sentenced accordingly.
'nominal', dammit!
ReplyDeleteLast two Chrimbles in jail? I hope the state didn't give him a present to open, marked 'with love from the taxpayer.'
ReplyDeletethe almost unversal tendency of his kind to reproduce at a an early age
ReplyDeleteThere's a paper in there, somewhere. There is a class of young women who reinforce criminal behaviour by putting out for it and thus provide direct benefit for continuing.
The paper could be called "The Leader of the Pack" after the song which illustrates exactly this effect. Yeah, I know she and Johnny broke up, but if he hadn't ridden his bike in to a tree, she'd have run off with him and been abandoned with a baby within months. Her folks were always putting him down, and how right they were.
Despite the flippant approach, I reckon a series of interviews with young women who have had babies by the thoroughly nasty might be a useful place to start understanding and then unpicking the reinforcement.
I'd love to know how he managed to assault his victim with a microwave. I've lived nearly 55 years and never found one lying around on a night out.
ReplyDeleteDid anyone else notice in the original story that this WoS is of "no fixed abode"? Not living with this mitigating son then? In what sense is he a father except in a purely biological way.
And is he paying his child maintenance or spending it on drink (don't answer that).
WOAR - a very interesting hypothesis that certainly merits further study; the welfare state has effectively removed many of the disincentives both in terms of child maintenance and shotgun-wielding prospective in-laws.
ReplyDeleteI hope you'll decide to elaborate on the issue; I look forward to reading the results.
As an aside, that's a real blast from the past; I have to put my hands up and say I know the song by heart - my friends and I used to perform it as a party piece at our convent school; perhaps a perfect illustration of the allure of the idea.
"... drunkeness is an aggravating factor, not a mitigating one."
ReplyDeleteAmen!
"My understanding is that being drunk doesn't help your fighting abilities so the fact he failed to seriously harm his attackee doesn't sound like it was for the want of trying."
Good point, so why would the judiciary accept it as a mitigating factor? Are they ignorant of this fact?
"...perhaps the judiciary should be given a scale for converting moninal age into chav years."
I Like that idea!
"Did anyone else notice in the original story that this WoS is of "no fixed abode"? Not living with this mitigating son then? In what sense is he a father except in a purely biological way."
In no sense other than that one, I suspect.