During the assault the then 16-year-old – who cannot be named for legal reasons – used the broken end of the bottle to strike his victim several times in the face causing his throat and nose to be sliced open.
The Royal Court heard that the attack, which happened in the Havre des Pas area on the evening of 18 April, left the victim requiring 17 stitches and that the boy was fortunate to have escaped without life-threatening injuries or losing his sight.
Crown Advocate Richard Pedley told the court that it was the second assault that the boy had carried out on the night, having punched another schoolmate in the face in an earlier incident in the same area.
Following the first attack, the second victim came over to speak to the defendant and a scuffle broke out between the pair.
As the two fell to the floor, the attacker, who admitted drinking eight cans of lager in the run-up to the assaults, reached out for a broken bottle and struck the boy a number of times with the weapon.
Describing the offence, Advocate Pedley said: ‘The Crown considers that the injury to the neck could easily have been life-threatening, and that to the bridge of the nose, if a few centimetres to the left or right, could have blinded the victim.’
He added that during police interview the boy admitted to being drunk at the time of the assault.
Advocate Pedley also told the court that the defendant, who has 12 previous offences including two assaults, was considered to be at high-risk of re-offending by the probation service.
Advocate Niall MacDonald, defending, told the court that his client, who pleaded guilty to one count of grave and criminal assault and one count of common assault, had carried out the attack impulsively and not in a premeditated manner.
The advocate added that the boy had a troubled background and that he had been making ‘positive improvements’ with probation staff since his arrest.
Bailiff William Bailhache said that because of the seriousness of the attack the only appropriate punishment was a custodial sentence.
‘It was clear that you must have struck him at least twice to cause several cuts to the throat that could have been fatal.
‘That goes to show how serious the assault was,’ he said.
Mr Bailhache, who was sitting with Jurats Geoffrey Fisher and Jerry Ramsden, added: ‘At the end of the day there’s only one person who can make things better in your life and that is you.
‘There are consequences for what you do and you need to grow up and learn that.’
