Brothers' assault charges reduced by half on appeal

Two brothers jailed for their part in an assault amounting to ABH (actual bodily harm) have had their sentences reduced by half on appeal.

Bruce and Jordan Martinez were sentenced on May 23rd to 12 and 15 months respectively for their part in an assault which took place in 2021 on Waterport Road.

While the Court of Appeal noted it could not condone the violent offences committed, it did observe that the context of the assault was significant and ought to have counted towards mitigation.

The victim in this case had smashed the windows of Bruce Martinez’s car. Mr Martinez had reported this to the police, but no arrests had been made by the time the brothers had a chance encounter with the man two days later, when the assault took place.

The appeal judges also accepted the initial judge’s categorization of culpability and harm had been excessively high.

As such, the initial prison terms were quashed and substituted for sentences of 24 and 28 weeks for Bruce and Jordan respectively. Given the time both have spent on remand, neither brother will need to surrender to custody.

Bruce was represented by Chris Miles and Jordan by Neil Costa.