Essex attack saw army mechanic suffer bleed on the brain

Frederico Andrade-Dos Santos, 21, threw a punch at a complete stranger after laughing at his friend’s mockery of the victim.

Ipswich Crown Court heard the attack was launched in Vineyard Street, Colchester, on the night of January 8 last year.

CCTV footage played to the court showed the victim walking alone in the street, unsteady on his feet and clearly intoxicated.

A group of young men rounded the corner and one of their number began to taunt the victim, shining a phone torch in his face, while another kicked him.

The taunting became violent, with Andrade-Dos Santos knocking the victim to the floor with a single punch.

The group fled while the victim lay unconscious in the street.

After striking his head on a raised piece of the kerb, the victim suffered a skull fracture and a bleed on his brain.

The court heard “fortunately” he didn’t require further surgery and the injury healed on its own, although the victim continued to suffer blood clots in his ears which had to be removed.

The judge was told the victim works as an engineer in the army, but his lengthy recovery has severely impacted upon his ability to work.

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The victim said he has since suffered sleeping issues and “bad dreams”, feeling uneasy and “on edge” at work.

The court heard he had “no enthusiasm for anything” and is set to undergo speech and memory therapy to work on his behaviour and personality changes.

He said he had since been deemed medically not deployable by the army, while the DVLA will not return his HGV licence.

Andrade-Dos Santos, of Bramford Road, Ipswich, admitted causing grievous bodily harm without intent.

The police cordon in Vineyard Street the morning after the serious assault (Image: Essex Police)

Jude Durr, mitigating, said his client has no previous convictions, is immature and had “the courage and common sense” to plead guilty at the earliest opportunity.

He said at the stage Andrade-Dos Santos and his group of friends stumbled across the victim, “the atmosphere was one of mockery, not one of hostility”.

He said his client had done nothing to encourage the ridicule of the victim, instead walking at the front of the group “with his head down and his hands in his pockets”.

But Mr Durr added: “By the time he delivers that actually quite sickening blow, there’s no question of self-defence.

“Initially when he turned around, this was a developing situation, which developed from the worst kind of mickey-taking to violence.”

The judge was taken to references from a friend and a neighbour of Andrade-Dos Santos, with the court hearing he planned to take up a business studies course at university.

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“This conduct was wholly out of character,” said Mr Durr.

Deputy Circuit Judge David Pugh sentenced the young man to 26 months imprisonment.

'You clearly found the mockery of the victim funny'

Judge Pugh said: “You, I’m satisfied, were able in the time available to you, to judge that he was clearly intoxicated.

“There is then a kick by one of your group, no doubt to ridicule [the victim] in his state.

“Then, to further ridicule him, one of your number decides to go up into his face and take a video or at least to highlight his face.

“You clearly considered this to be highly amusing, again, I’m satisfied, because you knew how drunk he was.

“One of your number then, because [the victim] turned, went up and punched him.

“At that stage you were also running over. It’s clear that even at the time of the first punch by one of your number, [the victim] was causing no risk of injury or other harm to either you or these others.

“You then punched him for no apparent reason to the head. He fell backwards, where he hit his head on what appears to be some raised element of the pavement.

“You then, instead of checking on what you’d done to this person, ran off.”

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