News / Assault appeal fails
A CROWN appeal against an “unduly lenient” sentence handed down to an oil worker following a serious assault in Lerwick town centre in summer 2013 has failed.
Twenty two year old Liam Cromwell was jailed for 12 months at Lerwick Sheriff Court in October this year for a religiously aggravated assault.
The incident, during which Cromwell punched the other man, left the victim requiring round-the-clock care after he stumbled and fell, hitting his head on the ground.
The Crown Office took the unusual step of appealing just a month after Cromwell was sentenced.
The man was given life-saving surgery at Lerwick’s Gilbert Bain Hospital before being flown by air ambulance to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.
The assault took place after two groups of friends traded insults about Glasgow football rivals Celtic and Rangers during a night out.
The appeal against Cromwell’s sentence was heard at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh.
A spokesman for the Crown Office and the Procurator Fiscal Service said: “We note the decision of the court.”
When Cromwell was jailed in September, the court heard that that his victim would require “constant, daily care for the rest of his life”.
Cromwell had admitted assaulting his victim to severe injury, permanent disfigurement and endangerment of his life at Commercial Street and Burns Walk.
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