Narrikup man shown mercy for bottle shop attack that left victim with multiple facial injuries

A District Court judge has shown mercy to a Narrikup man, handing down a suspended prison term for an assault which left an older man with a broken jaw, broken nose and “multiple facial fractures”. Ben Robert Cottle, 48, was sentenced in Albany District Court last week after being found guilty of assault occasioning bodily harm. Cottle, who was initially charged with grievous bodily harm over the assault, received a 15-month conditionally suspended prison sentence. Judge Vicki Stewart said several mitigating factors made it a case of exercising a “merciful disposition”. The court was told that about 7.40pm on January 11 last year, Cottle assaulted a 57-year-old man outside the Amity Tavern bottle shop, punching the victim a “number of times before being restrained by other persons”. The attack was triggered by a verbal exchange inside the bottle shop over a traffic matter. “When the victim left the store, you were waiting in the drive-through area of the bottle shop and a physical confrontation occurred,” Judge Stewart said. The victim was taken by relatives to hospital in Perth. He suffered a broken nose, multiple facial fractures and a fractured upper jaw, the court was told. In a police interview on January 24, Cottle admitted to punching the victim once and claimed he had acted in self-defence. His defence counsel Elizabeth Hamilton said he was “not affected by drugs or alcohol” at the time of the incident. Judge Stewart told the court there were eight factors that supported a conditionally suspended term of imprisonment. They included a lack of premeditation, a limited court history of violence and a remorseful attitude. However Judge Stewart said violence in public places was “a matter of genuine concern in the community”. “You were not deterred by members of the public being present,” she said. “You were the aggressor. You caused injury (to the victim), being the injuries that I have described including the fractured nose which required surgery.”

Narrikup man shown mercy for bottle shop attack that left victim with multiple facial injuries

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