Teenager receives suspended sentence after bus station assault victim suffered bleed on brain and serious facial injuries

A man who intervened to break up a fight at Warrington Bus Station ended up with a bleed on the brain and serious facial injuries, a court heard.

As Darren Jacks attempted to stop the fight he was punched by 18-year-old Caine O’Brien, ending up in hospital for two days and suffering ongoing health issues which had impacted his mental health.

Sentencing O’Brien today (Fri) the judge, Recorder Louis Browne, KC, said that the victim “when trying to break up a fight he was most brutally assaulted.”

Paul Blasbery, prosecuting, told Liverpool Crown Court that the incident happened at the bus station on June 10 last year.
Mr Jacks had been out drinking with others when they saw two men, wearing balaclavas, fighting and Mr Jacks went over to intervene. There was a tussle during which Mr Jacks pushed O’Brien and said ‘stop it’.
He could not remember anything after that but O’Brien had punched him once and he was taken to hospital where he was treated for bleed on the brain and a displaced fractured left cheek bone.
He had to undergo surgery and had titanium plates and screws inserted. In an impact statement he said he had been left with a shattered eye socket and a bleed on the brain.
He spent two days in Warrington Hospital before being transferred to Aintree Hospital. Mr Jacks said he was still in pain two months later and the incident had impacted on his mental health.
The court heard that he was nervous about going to the bus station and whenever he sees large groups of males. He had been left feeling angry as he had simply intervened to break up a fight.

O’Brien, of Sherdley House, Dobsons Way, St Helens, pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm.
Recorder Browne sentenced him to 18 months detention suspended for 18 months and ordered him to attend a thinking skills programme and to carry out 12 days rehabilitation activities.
“This is an opportunity for you to turn your life around. You are very lucky that you are not being sent to custody immediately.”
Carmel Wilde, defending, said that O’Brien has anger issues after a troubled childhood. He has no previous convictions and it had been just one punch.
He had believed his friends were in danger and “acted out of mis-placed loyalty to bad peers.”
She said that O’Brien, who has ADHD, had “seen red and over-reacted.”