Teenager jailed for brutal street attack
Aug 9 2008 by Dan Warburton, The Journal
ATEENAGER was handed a four-year jail term yesterday after he downed half a bottle of wine and slashed the face of a teacher in a street glass attack.
The 16-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, smashed a bottle in his victim’s face before stamping on his head and raining punches down on him, Newcastle Crown Court heard yesterday.
Ben Segni, a design and technology teacher at Newcastle’s Heaton Manor School, was so terrified by the attack which took place on Saturday, March 1 that he has since left the area to start a new life with his family.
And yesterday Judge Guy Whitburn sentenced his teenage attacker to a four-year prison term but refused to lift his anonymity.
Mr Segni’s face was left looking like a patchwork quilt after the incident which happened at around 1am outside a house on Hotspur Street, Heaton, Newcastle.
He suffered deep wounds to his tongue, cheek, chin, throat and a fractured skull in the attack.
As he lay in a pool of blood, the teenager rifled through his pockets and stole his mobile phone before fleeing from the scene.
Police discovered the 26-year-old sprawled in the street surrounded by shattered glass.
Speaking to the teenager, Judge Whitburn yesterday said: “You have pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent on a school teacher.
“He and his family have left the area to make a new start. It is clear from seeing the photographs that this was an extremely serious assault. Not only in the sense of what happened, but in the sense that you stamped on him. You left him in a pool of blood having helped yourself to his mobile phone and his injuries were extremely serious.”
The youth was arrested on March 3 after police raided his house and found Mr Segni’s mobile phone. They also discovered a pair of trainers that forensics later matched to the footprint left on Mr Segni’s face after the attack.
Jane Foley, defending, said the teenager claimed he had feared he was going to be abducted by the victim and was acting in self-defence. He refused to co-operate with psychiatrists, but the court heard how he had a long history of drug and alcohol abuse, frequently dabbling with cannabis, ecstasy and magic mushrooms.
Mrs Foley said: “The offence was not premeditated and he accepts that the victim has suffered very serious injuries.
“The use of the weapon too was not premeditated. It was not acquired to cause the injuries but happened to be in his hand at the time.”
