Miguel Diogo Silva Gama (21), of Cannon Street, Jose Fabio Nunes Cardoso (32), of Val Plaisant, and Stephen Wolfgang Rodrigues (26), of Rouge Bouillon, admitted making an affray in the early hours of 27 January in West’s Centre.
The court was told by police legal adviser Simon Crowder that the fight broke out over a £10 drug debt that had not been paid to Cardoso by Gama. However, Gama’s lawyer, Advocate Francesca Pinel, said her client did not agree that was the reason. Cardoso has admitted to supplying, or offering to supply, ecstasy to another person on 24 December 2017.
Mr Crowder said that there were admissions from the outset that they had all taken part in the fight, which involved punching and kicking. He said that CCTV footage gave the impression that one of the defendants had been knocked unconscious, although there was no certainty and it was denied by the man himself.
Advocate Lorraine McClure, representing Rodrigues, said that it was not a premeditated attack, there were no weapons used and it was simply reaction to one person’s actions towards another. She said that Rodrigues intervened because he began to fear for Gama’s safety and accepted that he threw some punches.
Advocate Pinel, for Gama, said that it was not admitted that the reason for the fight was the drug debt.
Mr Crowder submitted that although the offending was at the higher end of the court’s sentencing powers, it was not sufficiently serious to send to the Royal Court.
He said that the injuries to Cardoso were bruising and a number of cuts to the face while Gama suffered minor bruising and grazes.
The Magistrate, Bridget Shaw, said that there was no evidence of unconsciousness. She said that although Cardoso would also be sentenced for the supply of drugs, the court would bear in mind he was also a victim and that would be taken into account.
‘I have decided that the court does have enough power to deal with this matter but I am looking at a substantive custodial sentence in the region of 12 months,’ she said. Mrs Shaw said the court would also consider the question of deportation.
