- Two years jail sentence for man who left best friend with brain damage
- Brent Bisson punched his victim to the ground during a drunken argument
- Witnesses said that the mans head hit the ground with a sickening thud which sounded like a coconut cracking
A MAN who left his best friend with ‘life -changing’ brain damage after punching him to the ground during a drunken argument has been jailed for two years.
The victim was motionless on the ground after being knocked down with a single punch by his friend of 18 years, Brent Gavin Bisson.
Witnesses said that the man’s head hit the ground with a ‘sickening thud’ which sounded like a ‘coconut cracking’.
He was taken to hospital before being transferred to the Wessex Neurological Centre in Southampton where he was placed in a medically induced coma for 13 days.
The plasterer’s brain was left so badly swollen surgeons had to remove part of his skull – and he later had to relearn how to read and speak.
Bisson, who has 37 previous convictions, was yesterday jailed for two years by the Royal Court after admitting grave and criminal assault.
The court heard that hours before the incident, on 28 November last year, the pair had been having dinner and drinks with colleagues at their staff Christmas night out at Wildfire Restaurant in St Helier.
After the meal an argument broke out and they started swearing and insulting each other.
The row continued outside in Mulcaster Street and images captured on CCTV showed the two men arguing, with the victim walking back and forth across the zebra crossing.
Seconds later, Bisson (28) punched his friend once in the face, causing him to fall to the ground.
Bisson could be seen on the CCTV footage being manhandled away by one of the witnesses before leaving the scene.
The victim was taken to the Hospital where he was given a CT scan before being transferred to the intensive care unit with a fractured skull and bleeding on, or close to, his brain.
Hours later he was airlifted to Southampton Hospital.
Crown Advocate Conrad Yates told the court that he was taken off the ventilator on 11 December where he began to recover. Three weeks later he was transferred to a rehabilitation unit before having further surgery to re-attach a section of his skull.
Crown Advocate Yates said that, on 7 February, the victim returned to the rehabilitation unit where he remained dependent on carers for all his needs and was ‘severely disabled’. He had severe speech problems although he was able to walk unaided.
A consultant neurosurgeon said he anticipated that he would continue to improve for 12 to 18 months but would ‘always be disabled to some degree’.
In a victim impact statement, the man’s partner said that the attack had had a ‘devastating impact’ on the family’.
Advocate James Bell, defending, said Bisson had never intended to cause such serious injuries and was ‘absolutely distraught’ and remorseful at what had happened to his best friend.
Advocate Bell said: ‘This was an instinctive reaction to provocation. While what he did was unlawful it was of a relatively minor nature with devastating and unexpected consequences.’
Deputy Bailiff, Tim Le Cocq, who was sitting on the case with Jurats Collette Crill and Jeremy Ramsden, told Bisson the injuries had had a ‘profound’ effect on his victim.
He told Bisson that there was ‘significant provocation’ but it was ‘not violent provocation’.
Mr Le Cocq added: ‘He has required intensive treatment and he has and will continue to suffer the consequences of your punch, possibly for the rest of his life.’
As well as two years in prison, Bisson was barred from entering licensed premises for a further two years on his release.
‘I punched Karl he’s f***ing hit his head on the floor’
‘He was f***ing winding me up’
‘Am I supposed to just take his f***ing abuse’
‘I’ve hit him, he’s in hospital’
‘It’s just my f***ing luck’
‘He’s hit me three times and I haven’t hit him back’
‘I hit him once and get done for grave and criminal assault’
* Comments were included in the Crown Prosecution Summary of Facts given to the court
