Teen 'thug' who left unconscious man with fractured skull avoids jail

Deemster tells 19-year-old: "So many people die as a result of a single punch"

A teenager from St Johns has been told he behaved like a ‘thug’ after launching an unprovoked attack on another man which left him with a fractured skull.

Jake Thomas Cowin, of Ballacraine, narrowly avoided being sent to prison during sentencing at Douglas Courthouse.

The 19-year-old had previously pleaded guilty to assaulting the teenager and causing him grievous bodily harm.

One Punch

The court heard Cowin - who was 18 at the time - had got involved in an altercation with the 19-year-old, on Regent Street in Douglas, on 26 August last year.

He thew a drink over him, pushed him and then punched him once; the teen fell to the ground, banging his head and suffering fractures to his cheek and eye socket.

Cowin then fled the scene knowing he was unconscious.

In a victim impact statement, read to the court, the complainant described how the assault had had a ‘huge impact’, physically and mentally, and he’d been left ‘checking over his shoulder’.

“I’ve become extremely anxious,” he added.

Acceptance

The court heard Cowin had handed himself into Police Headquarters the following day telling officers he’d thrown a ‘pre-emptive strike’ because he thought he was going to be punched.

Cowin’s advocate said his client had been drinking beforehand adding: “It wasn’t something that was planned.”

‘Thuggery’

Describing Cowin’s behaviour as ‘thuggery at best’ Deemster Graeme Cook told him: “You behaved, did you not, like a thug.

“So many people die as a result of the single punch,” he added: “You left this man on the ground – you ran away.”

Imposing a 20-month custodial sentence, which will be suspended for two years, Deemster Cook also ordered Cowin to pay the victim £2,000 in compensation.

A two-year suspended sentence supervision order has also been activated and Cowin will have to pay £300 in prosecution costs.