Teen faces jail for knocking boy’s tooth out
A teenager from Plymouth faces jail after he was found guilty of knocking a younger boy’s tooth out with a beer bottle
The 16-year-old, who cannot be named because of his age, hit his victim, who was 14 at the time, with the bottle at Astor Playing Fields.
One of the victim’s teeth was broken and partially knocked out and another was pushed back into a different position in his gum.
The attacker denied the charge of malicious wounding but was found to be guilty by District judge Paul Farmer after a day-and-a-half long trial.
Judge Farmer ordered that a background report be made on the attacker by the Youth Offending Team and said that he was even considering custody.
The victim, now 15, had been walking with three friends in the park when he was confronted by a gang of 15 youths on 23 January 2009 at around 9pm.
He said that one of them had hit him in the face with a bottle damaging his teeth. He recognised his attacker in front of officers at an identification parade.
Claiming the attack had seriously affected his life, the victim said that he still suffers from nightmares and flashbacks of the incidents and that he doesn’t like looking in the mirror because his teeth don’t look right.
The defendant still denies attacking the boy but said that he was in the park at the time of the assault.
He pinned the blame on another youth who looks like him.
After he was found guilty the court was told that the defendant had previous convictions for aggravated vehicle taking, theft from a motor vehicle, and had already been cautioned for an unprovoked attack on a stranger in Astor Playing Fields.
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