Brothers avoid jail for cowardly attack

Three "drunken cowards" who knocked a man unconscious after they were challenged about comments they made to a girl dressed in a skimpy Santa outfit in Bath have managed to avoid a jail term.

Brothers Jon and Luke Palma, and a teenage boy who cannot be identified, had been celebrating Christmas Eve when they launched the attack. The trio left Lochlann Dunbar-Barry battered, bruised and unconscious in the street. They were arrested at the scene and Jon Palma, 24, and his 23-year-old brother, both of Chandag Road, Keynsham, along with the youth, later pleaded guilty to affray.

Their sentencing had been deferred for six months last November so they could prove they could stay out of trouble and stave off the threat of imprisonment. They returned to Bristol Crown Court to be given 12-month community orders with the requirement that they all carry out 100 hours of unpaid work and pay £400 to their victim.

The court had previously heard how the three turned violent after leaving the then Delfter Krug nightclub on Christmas Eve, 2008. Mr Dunbar-Barry had told them a comment they had made to a girl dressed in a skimpy Santa outfit was "not nice".

The court had previously heard that the youth had attacked him first, followed by Luke Palma, who banged his head on the ground several times. Initially, Jon Palma had led his brother away, but the violence flared up again when Mr Dunbar-Barry shouted at Luke Palma. There was then a scuffle outside the Boston Tea Party cafe and all three defendants were seen punching and kicking Mr Dunbar-Barry – with one, who could not be identified, stamping on his head.

The victim lost consciousness and was taken to the Royal United Hospital, where he was treated for bruising, swelling and abrasions to his head and abrasions to his neck and back and kept in overnight for observation.

James Haskell, defending Jon Palma, said the electrician had complied with the terms of the deferment – a curfew, and agreements not to enter licenced premises, to save money to pay compensation and to stay out of trouble.

Ramin Pakrooh, defending Luke Palma, said the student, who is reading history at university, had also complied with the deferment and managed to save just over £400.

Sentencing the trio, Judge Mark Horton told them they had acted like "drunken cowards".

He said: "This court and society wishes that it had the solution to explain why three young men of good character, highly educated, showing the results of ability and endeavour in absolutely every area of your life, should have acted like drunken cowards and in a way which could have easily led to the death of the young man you attacked.

"You showed when originally interviewed a lack of remorse for your victim and an ability to justify to yourself what you had done, which caused me enormous concern, because that kind of arrogance, which is shared by a large number of young people without your attributes, is repeated far too often."