A MAN has been jailed for 31 months for a “revenge” attack armed with a golf club which he used to stab the victim’s leg when the shaft broke.
Caernarfon Crown Court was told the victim blacked out and mobility in his leg had reduced.
Richard Gwion Jones, 27, of Maengwyn, Trawsfynydd, a former power station worker, admitted causing grievous bodily harm.
Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke said the attack involving four men, nearly a year ago, happened in an isolated location at Bronaber in the early hours after William Barker’s van had been forced to stop.
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Mr Barker had previously been in a relationship with Jones’s sister and there were allegations of violence by Mr Barker towards her.
Mr Barker had a conviction for common assault on Jones, the judge noted.
Last February, Judge Lloyd-Clarke said Jones had been a passenger in another van which forced Mr Barker’s vehicle to pull over. Jones got out and hurled an object which caused the windscreen to crack. Mr Barker then carried on driving but had a flat tyre and difficulty controlling his van.
His path was blocked again and he saw Jones and three accomplices.
The judge said Jones ran towards the victim who was hit with the golf club after he got out of his van. During the attack he was also punched, kicked and stamped on.
“You struck him with a golf club with such force the shaft broke. You used it to stab his leg,” Judge Lloyd-Clarke said to Jones during her sentencing remarks.
Mr Barker had been left with scarring, in pain, and suffered nightmares.
“This was a sustained assault. There was a significant degree of premeditation in this case,” she said. “This was a revenge attack, the culmination of some considerable animosity between your family and Mr Barker.”
Defence barrister Jonathan Austin said: “There’s absolutely no excuse whatsoever about what happened that night.
“But there is a background which led to Gwion Jones behaving in the way he did, taking the law into his own hands.”
Counsel said Mr Barker hadn’t paid any compensation ordered after an “unpleasant” assault on Jones.