Guernsey Press

Two years in jail for smashing pint glass into man’s face

SMASHING a pint glass into another man’s face led to Benjamin Peter Shea Rive being sentenced to two years in prison by the Royal Court.

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Benjamin Rive (28462044)

Rive, 22, had previously admitted unlawfully wounding the man at St Jacques Tavern on 26 November.

Advocate Jenny McVeigh, prosecuting, told the court that Rive and the victim were known to each other and Rive had been at the pub with friends on the night in question.

The two had interacted slightly, with the victim at one point insulting Rive and his friends and telling them to be quiet when they became noisy while playing pool.

As closing time approached, the victim was sitting on a chair by the door and Rive and his friends were asked to leave because the pub was closing.

When the victim stood up, Rive lunged at him with a pint glass in his hand, hitting him on the side of the face with it.

Rive and his party then left the pub.

The victim was taken to the Emergency Department, where he required a stitch to a cut on his left ear. There were also minor cuts which required gluing. There was no sign of a head injury.

The nature of his job meant that he was not able to work and he also reported having a bit of a headache over the next seven days.

After his arrest, Rive gave no answers during two interviews with police.

His phone was taken by police and messages to his partner were found on it in which he expressed regret about the incident and said he had thought of offering to pay the other man’s medical bill.

‘I am shocked and disappointed in myself,’ Rive wrote.

Advocate Liam Roffey, defending, said this was a case where the words of the defendant’s were more effective than his own and were a succinct summary of the mitigation he was going to offer.

Rive was a relatively young man who had suffered mental health problems and had a turbulent childhood. But he was not seeking to use these as an excuse for his behaviour.

He accepted a custodial sentence was inevitable and felt tremendous guilt that he would be leaving his partner and their young child to get on with life without him.

Letters of reference were submitted by Rive’s partner and his mother, with his mother describing him as her ‘rock’, and they showed a very different person from the man who committed the assault, said Advocate Roffey.

Rive had suffered from severe depression for many years and at the time of the offence he had relapsed into using alcohol and diazepam to self-medicate. He had now stopped using all substances.

Passing the sentence of the court, Bailiff Richard McMahon said that it was apparent how remorseful Rive was and it was also noted how there appeared to be a thoughtful and self-aware man beneath the one who exhibited such thuggish behaviour.

However, Guernsey was not a violent place and the sentence needed to contain an element of deterrence: ‘Such appalling behaviour will not be tolerated by any court,’ said Mr McMahon.

Rive was sentenced to two years in prison for the offence.

At the time of the assault, he was subject to a prison sentence of five months, suspended for two years, which he was given after a common assault on a youth, punching him and kicking him while he was on the floor.

This was activated and will run consecutively to the other sentence.

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