Court Report

On the 12th December, 2008, Carl Anthony Stanley had drank six litre bottle’s of cider and one litre bottle of vodka before heading to Yates bar in Poole town.

He left with a friend; however, somehow they lost each other, so Stanley began looking for other acquaintances.

He saw a young woman, who he though he met, however, they started arguing which resulted in Mr Stanley throwing his drink over the lady. The young lady’s friend saw what was happening, so retaliated by throwing her own drink over Mr Stanley.

This angered Mr Stanley, who then lashed out at the girl- hitting her on the left side of her face. He still had his drink glass in his hand, which he said he didn’t realise, which struck the lady- causing deep lacerations to her face- some of them being up to 3cm long.

She was taken from the bar in an ambulance and treated in hospital, where she received 25 stitches to the left side of her face. She also had many other cuts and grazes to her face.

The nursery nurse is now reluctant to leave the house; with Judge John Harrow claiming she is “moved to tears” every time she looks at her reflection.

During remand, the defendant has been tee-total, which has helped him with his drink problem- showing him this is the route of this incident and his previous conviction.

This previous conviction saw him stab a group of men, after Stanley and his friends had been throwing beer cans at their boat- which caused a fight to break out. He received a six-year sentence for this crime, which took place in 2004- however he only served three years in prison; which meant he had three years of licence- which he was serving at the time of the incident.

Breaking the terms of your licence qualifies for immediate imprisonment, however Emma Southern, who was representing Stanley, asked for Judge Harrow to consider his drink problem as a reason for the crime- and his great effort to overcome his addiction.

Judge Harrow took this into careful consideration- saying alcohol was Stanley’s ‘downfall’. However, he also has to consider the considerable psychological damage to the young lady, as well as his previous convictions and the fact that the crime had no justification.

Judge Harrow had no other option to imprison Stanley immediately- calling him a ‘risk to the public’. Overall, he was sentenced to three years- after reducing his sentence for his good behaviour and the fact that he had admitted a guilty plea straight away- which reduced his sentence by a third. The 36 days he had been remanded in custody for would also be accounted for.