A man who head-butted a complete stranger in a Carlisle bar has been spared immediate prison.
City magistrates heard the victim and his friend went to Walkabout on Botchergate late on 2nd January. Just before 1am, a female walked up to the victim and put her arm around him. She talked to him although he couldn’t hear what she was saying.
At that point, drunken 30-year-old Shane Ackerley walked over and head-butted the victim, who was left stunned, bloodied and with tooth damage. He and his friend went outside and asked Ackerley what was going on but the attacker did not reply and would not look at the victim.
“This was a completely unprovoked attack,” the victim had said. “I have no idea why he assaulted me.”
The victim’s pal said of him: “He never starts trouble. It’s not in his character to do anything like that.”
In an impact statement, the victim spoke of the impact on his mental health and of staying in during the rest of January “due to embarrassment at how I looked”. Dental work costing £1,553 had been carried out, and he added: “Overall it was a very stressful start to the year.”
Ackerley, of Bounty Avenue, Maryport, admitted actual bodily harm assault when he appeared in front of magistrates today, and also admitted an assault on his fiancée in the aftermath, pushing her to the floor.
Ackerley had since penned a letter of apology to the victim, saying: “I have zero excuse for my horrendous and vile actions. I acted entirely inappropriately.” He added: “I am deeply sorry.” He had been assaulted himself earlier in the evening by a person wearing the “same clothing” as the victim. It had been, said solicitor Duncan Campbell, “mistaken identification” by hard-working Ackerley.
Magistrates submissions from a probation officer who had interviewed Ackerley about the offending, and gave details about his employment, family circumstances and that he was no longer drinking alcohol.
A 24-week prison sentence was suspended for 12 months, and he was ordered to pay the victim £1,553 compensation and complete rehabilitation sessions. Lead magistrate Keith Southward told the defendant: “This was a nasty, unprovoked attack.”
