Two years' jail for attacking kebab shop worker

8:12am Wednesday 14th May 2008

A 23-YEAR-OLD man who attacked a kebab shop worker and left him needing six stitches was on Friday jailed for two years.

Oxford Crown Court heard Craig McKiernan, of Park Road, Didcot, provoked the man by stealing his keys after a confrontation in the Delight Kebab House 2 in the town.

McKiernan had denied assault causing actual bodily harm after the incident in September 2006, but was convicted in a trial in December.

He had also previously admitted a separate charge of affray relating to an incident in the Queen's Arms pub, in Didcot, in February.

Referring to the assault, Rob Harland, prosecuting, said: "The victim says he fell to the ground and the attack continued.

"He says he was punched and kicked on the ground in the melee by Mr McKiernan.

"He had a bloody nose, swelling to his head and his eyes and ears. He had blurred vision afterwards and was nervous and shocked."

Claire Fraser, defending, said McKiernan had not initiated the attack and had been provoked.

And she added McKiernan had mental health issues, including a possible personality disorder. She said: "He is still a young man who has a future ahead of him."

Sentencing McKiernan to two years for the assault, with a concurrent six-month sentence for the affray, Mr Recorder Richard Prior said: "It was quite clearly a vicious attack."

He also ordered McKiernan to serve an extended licence period of three years.