A man who left another man with “life-changing and life-limiting injuries” in a case of excessive self-defence walked free from court today with a suspended jail sentence.
Sentencing Apostol Apostolov at Newry Crown Court, Judge Paul Ramsey told the 36-year-old that having “become involved in a confrontation with the injured party…you went further than necessary to defend yourself”.
“That decision has led to devastating and long-lasting consequences for the victim and his family,” said the judge, adding that while the custody threshold had clearly been passed, the question was whether to suspend the sentence or order Apostolov to go to prison.
Although Judge Ramsey imposed a two-year jail sentence, he said given the features of the case including the element of self-defence, the defendant’s clear record, genuine remorse and low risk of reoffending, he had decided to suspend it for three years.
At an earlier hearing, Apostolov, a Bulgarian national whose address was listed as The Square, Newtownhamilton, entered a guilty plea to causing the victim grievous bodily harm on April 28 last year.
In an agreed document outlining the facts, prosecuting counsel Fiona O’Kane told the court how there had been a confrontation outside a shop on Victoria Street in Keady just after 11am that day.
Apostolov was buying cigarettes when the 61-year-old victim entered in what was described as a “very agitated state, complaining repeatedly about how a car had been parked outside”.
The complaint was directed at Apostolov, and as he left the shop, the victim was following close behind “continuing to remonstrate verbally” with him.
The shop owner told police he could see the victim had his right fist clenched, and as the two men stood facing each other, the victim punched Apostolov, shouting at him, “what way is that to f****** park a car?”
Apostolov, the court heard, “did not appear to react”, with Mrs O’Kane explaining how the victim had parked his car almost touching the rear bumper of Apostolov’s car.
“The victim was there to purchase coal, and it seems the defendant’s car was obstructing access to the shop’s coal bunker,” said Mrs O’Kane, adding that after Apostolov was seen to step back from the victim, he was struck again with a punch to the face.
Apostolov moved his car a few feet, and as the victim was putting coal into his boot, he was “still shouting towards the defendant”. He even refused to get back into his car when his mother, a lady in her 80s, told him to.
It was at this point, said the barrister, that Apostolov punched the man, causing him to fall backwards “like a plank – he didn’t move his arms at all and went straight back appearing to hit his head off the ground. It looked like he was unconscious from the moment he was punched”.
The court heard that where Apostolov went too far was when he moved over to his unconscious victim, lifted him slightly from the ground and punched him again, before getting into his car and speeding off. He was arrested a short time later.
Judge Ramsey described how medical reports detail how the victim sustained “significant, catastrophic, life-changing and evidently life-limiting injuries”.
The man “suffered a severe traumatic brain injury with extensive bleeding around the brain”, as well as multiple facial and skull fractures. He was airlifted to the Royal Victoria Hospital and Judge Ramsey told how he spent a month in intensive care before he was transferred to a brain injury unit.
The victim was only discharged from hospital in February. The living room of his home has effectively been changed into a hospital ward as he will require round-the-clock care for the rest of his life.
Judge Ramsey revealed that, at one point, medics told his family to prepare for the worst and that a priest had been sent to anoint him.
He told the man’s family that although he was not fully opening the contents of the victim impact statements, he assured them that he had read and considered the “heart wrenching and poignant comments”.
Outlining that it was a “very difficult case”, the judge said while there were aggravating features such as the “extreme harm” caused in the assault, there were also mitigating features including the guilty plea, genuine remorse, clear record and low risk of reoffending.
After handing down the suspended prison sentence, he warned Apostolov if he commits any other offences in the next three years, he would serve the two-year sentence in addition to any other sentence.