Teenager jailed for hitting boy with knock-out punch

Rian Golding (19) punched his victim after they and a group of friends had been drinking in a field near Trinity Hill, before hitting him a second time as he came round.

The Royal Court heard that Golding, who claimed he had drunk a litre and a half of vodka, had put his hand over the victim’s mouth after accusing the boy and a friend of laughing at him.

The court heard that the victim bit Golding’s hand in an attempt to release his grip, prompting the 19-year-old to punch the boy, leaving him ‘out cold’ for about a minute.

As the victim regained consciousness and got back to his feet, Golding punched him again, causing the 14-year-old to fall back into a bush, the court was told.

The incident came just a fortnight after Golding, originally from Norwich, was sentenced to 160 hours of community service in the Magistrate’s Court for attacking another boy at the Waterfront.

On that occasion his victim was left with a broken jaw.

In the most recent case Golding, who has eight previous convictions, pleaded guilty to one count of grave and criminal assault, which put him in breach of a previous probation order.

He was sentenced to 18 months’ youth detention.

Advocate Adam Harrison, defending, said that Golding accepted he faced a jail sentence, but argued that his youth, difficult upbringing, and remorse for the attack should lead to a lower sentence.

He argued that the attack ‘fell at the low end of the scale’ for grave and criminal assault and that the victim did not suffer serious injuries.

Delivering the court’s sentence, Royal Court Commissioner Sir Michael Birt said: ‘We are quite satisfied that you do have a history of failure to respond to non-custodial sentences, and there is no alternative to youth detention in the present case.

‘We hope you take advantage of what is on offer to you in youth detention.

‘Ultimately, the choice is yours. If you carry on like you are at present – hitting people and attacking them – then you are going to spend more and more time in prison for longer and longer periods, and that would be a terrible waste of your life, so we hope you can turn away from that.’

Jurats Geoffrey Grime and Jerry Ramsden were sitting.

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