Man’s jaw ‘half-metal, half bone’ after attack by boxer
Michael Scales has been jailed following a one-punch attack on Norfolk Street in King;'s Lynn. File picture of police on Norfolk Street. Picture: Taz Ali - Credit: Archant
A man’s jaw is “half metal, half bone” after he was punched in the face by a Norfolk boxer in a town centre confrontation on New Year’s Day.
The victim had a metal plate surgically inserted into his jaw after the attack by Michael Scales on Norfolk Street in King’s Lynn almost two years ago.
Norwich Crown Court heard Scales, now 24 but 22 at the time, and the victim were in separate groups that faced off, and the Lynn-based fighter threw a kebab aggressively at them.
He then went after them, pushing one of the group before punching the victim once in the face.
The victim, who was in his early 20s, suffered a fractured jaw. Danielle O’Donovan, prosecuting, said “half of his jaw is now metal and half is bone”.
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A statement was read out on behalf of the victim by Ms O’Donovan, describing the impact the attack and subsequent injury had had.
She said he initially could not eat solid food as a result of the injury and still found it difficult to eat certain things due to the plate in his jaw.
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The victim, a personal trainer, has also been left physically scarred by the attack.
Scales, of Tasburgh Close, Lynn, appeared for sentencing on Thursday, October 14 having previously admitted wounding/inflicting grievous bodily harm (GBH) and assault by beating.
Jailing him for 18 months, Judge Andrew Shaw said it was significant the defendant was a “more than able boxer”.
He said: “A punch from you is not the same as from someone who is a member of the public.”
Judge Shaw said Scales was someone who was “trained in the art of punching”, adding: “Not only were you capable of punching but capable of punching with such force as to cause what in my judgement was a serious injury.”
He said that as a result of what Scales has done to the victim he had “reduced him to a shadow of the person he was before”.
The judge also told how communities were “fed up of displays of public violence like this”.
Lynne Shirley, mitigating, said the defendant, who was young, was not a normal drinker but someone who got carried away on New Year’s Eve.
The court was also told Scales, a man of previous good character, was remorseful.
