One jailed out of trio involved in "prolonged and sustained attack"

Friday 08 March 2019

Three people appeared in court having been involved in a fight outside the Mariners Pub last summer with one of the men jailed as a consequence.

When the trio found themselves among a group waiting to go home after a night out on The Bridge one pushed another and a fight ensued.

Guernsey's Magistrate's Court heard how two men who had been on a night out together on 16 June 2018, Graeme Harrison, 36 and George Scafaru, 34, joined the larger group including a mix of people they knew and some they didn't recognise, which included Adrian Ferbrache, 52. All had been drinking alcohol on the night. 

The prosecution said a fight broke out when Ferbrache seemingly went over to Scafaru and "pushed him with some force" from across the group of people. This led Harrison to launch an attack on Ferbrache in retaliation, which continued for quite some time. 

The two men scuffled towards the traffic partition and into the road, with Ferbrache suffering cuts and bruises and he had the impression of a boot mark left on his face. He was also treated a few days later for a cracked rib after he started "coughing up blood", although no evidence of this was brought to the court. 

Scafaru followed the men while they were punching and kicking to try and come between them, at which point he was grabbed in the groin and he then punched Ferbrache. The man then left the scene and was arrested later on in the evening for his involvement. 

CCTV footage of the incident was played to the court but it was unclear from that what led Ferbrache to push Scafaru. Advocate Sam Maindonald acting in his defence said that Ferbrache was out celebrating his birthday and had received a disarming text which led him to believe someone was going to fight him that night. He said that "offensive words" were levied at him from Scafaru but did not remember pushing him when he was interviewed the next day. 

"It was prolonged, violent and dangerous. All of you are old enough to know better," said Judge Cherry McMillen. 

"Nothing justifies your [Ferbrache's] initial push but I accept you were the victim of a violent attack. [Harrison] Your's is the most serious by some degree. Too often does this court have to look at violence acted out on CCTV but rarely is it prolonged as this. It could have been so much worse judging what I've seen," she said. 

The two younger men were charged with assault against Ferbrache who was in turn charged with assaulting Scafaru with the initial push. 

Ferbrache was given 100 hours of unpaid work as a direct alternative to two months in prison and Scafaru was given 100 hours unpaid work without the direct alternative. Harrison was given an immediate custodial sentence of four months in prison.