A THUG broke his victim’s eye socket in an unprovoked attack which he recorded on his phone before it was posted on Facebook.
But Harnam Gill has escaped being jailed, despite his ‘gratuitous degradation’ which included repeatedly punching, slapping and spitting at his victim.
Gill (28) of Breach Oak Lane, Corley, near Coventry, appeared at Warwick Crown Court after pleading guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm at an address in Coventry.
In spite of having a previous conviction for a similar unprovoked attack, he was given an 18-month prison term suspended for two years.
He was also ordered to take part in a rehabilitation activity, to do 150 hours of unpaid work, and to pay £500 compensation to his victim.
Prosecutor Sally Cairns said that in January, Gill and the victim were drinking and eating at the home of a mutual friend in Thorney Road, Bell Green, Coventry.
The victim asked Gill for a cigarette, but because he had already had some off him, Gill refused.
“He pleaded for one, and at that point the defendant punched him to the jaw and then punched him several more times to the face, knocking him down onto the sofa,” said Miss Cairns.
Their host tried to intervene, but Gill pushed him away, so he went to a neighbour’s home to ask for help. By the time they returned, Gill had gone. His victim was taken to hospital.
The same evening Gill sent a WhatsApp video to an acquaintance which showed the continuation of the assault after their host had left.
The clip, recovered by the police, was played in court.
It showed Gill taunting his frightened victim, who was already bleeding from his mouth, calling him a ‘f***ing p****,’ and ordering the man to look at him as he repeatedly slapped him across the face.
Gill then grabbed him by his neck and began spitting in his face.
Despite the evidence from his phone, Gill tried to claim to police he was afraid of the other man who he claimed had attacked him.
Miss Cairns added that Gill had been jailed for 17 months in 2012 for an assault in which he broke someone’s jaw in another unprovoked attack.
Andrew Tucker, defending, conceded: “It was an attack on a man who was in no position to defend himself.”
He said the other two men had been drinking, but Gill was sober because he had been due to go to work as an HGV driver the next morning.
“He lost his temper. It is something that has happened once in the past, but he’s not a man who is generally given to using his fists. This was something which occurred spontaneously.
“He feels a real sense of remorse. He is thoroughly ashamed of what he did in taking a video and then sending it to others.”
Sentencing Gill, Recorder Anthony Potter told him: “You having embarked on a completely unprovoked attack.. but I am just persuaded I can suspend the sentence.”
