Was This A Fair Sentence?

Grandfather threw hammer at youths



A "respectable" grandfather who threw a hammer at a group of teenagers "snapped" after enduring months of anti-social behaviour, a court has been told. Trevor Perry, 61, lost his temper when a number of youngsters became "aggressive and abusive" as he returned home from a family wedding in May last year, Birmingham Crown Court heard.

Perry, who was with his wife and 12-year-old granddaughter, swung a hammer wrapped in a plastic bag, hitting 18-year-old Darren Turner and fracturing his elbow, the court heard.

The defendant, of Heronfield Drive, Longbridge, Birmingham, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and was sentenced to 80 hours unpaid community work.

Perry was also ordered to pay Mr Turner £1,000 compensation.

Sentencing, Judge Richard Griffith-Jones said: "It really is a shame to see a man like you in the dock of a Crown Court.

"I accept that your patience had been worn very thin by anti-social behaviour but by the time you are 61 you are expected to exercise rather more judgment about how you respond to it than getting out of the car to remonstrate when you have had a little bit to drink and losing your temper."

The court was told that Perry and his neighbours had suffered months of loud noise, graffiti, abuse and damage by youths in the area.

Defending, Jonathan Gosling said: "The defendant is not a trouble-maker. He is 61 years of age and a respectable hard-working man who is retired and all he really wants is peace in his neighbourhood."

The court was told that Mr Turner - who spent five weeks with his elbow in plaster following the incident - was "simply a young man who was in the wrong place at the wrong time".

Buying or renting a cam corder to redord the abusive behavior would hae been better. Ithink that the old man got off easy. Here he could have been sentenced to 2 to 5 years for assult with a weapon with intent. Or even long in some cases

True.

But the courts clearly took into consideration that he is an ordinary fella, who probably just had enough of hassle.

There was a case in the UK some years ago.

Two men broke into a house.

One of them got shot.

He died.

The person whose house it was, he was sent to prison.

And, more odd, if someone were to break into my house, and one of my dogs took a bite at them, technically, it is ME that could be prosecuted, and my dog destroyed.

How does that work????

In a word crappy. Here our constitution guarantees us the right to bear arms in defense of our home and family, within limitations of course.

Without knowing the true extent of the harassment, the older gent's reaction, imo, cannot truly be judged...personally, I say, Elbow? Elbow? The dude should have aimed better...

Is it any wonder people are fighting back, in our towns and cities though?

Many socities seem to have imploded in on themselves, with crime, drug problems, violence, etc.

The police seem unable to efficiently deal with the volume of incidents, and their closure rate is not always that impressive for things like assault and house break in's.

In my opinion a 12 gauge is a really good reply to a break in. Trust me, if you are breaking into my home, I am not going to ask you what your intentions are. In my home, you break in with me there, I break you.