ISLAND cricketer Justin Meades has been jailed for six months for inflicting grievous bodily harm on a publican. The Royal Court yesterday also ordered him to pay £1,000 compensation to Ship & Crown licensee Mark Pontin, whose fractured shoulder needed plates and screws.
Meades, now 28, a policeman’s son who was described as of impeccable character, was sentenced to a further two weeks’ for resisting PC Stuart Allen outside Les Folies d’Amour nightclub.
Meades’ wedding to local fiancee Liz Murphy is now on hold until summer.
Meades, a qualified electrician, admitted committing both offences on 22 April after he had captained his cricket side to victory and then drunk about 10 pints of lager and shared a jug of vodka and Red Bulls with friends.
There was an argument with Mr Pontin inside the Ship and Crown near closing time. Meades later attacked him inside the nightclub.
Sentencing, Deputy Bailiff Richard Collas, presiding with 11 Jurats, said: ‘You pushed him so he fell to the floor. You repeatedly punched him 10 times or more.’
A surgeon said that the injuries could have been caused only by excessive force.
Glowing references and testimonials for the Guernsey Cricket Association’s 2006 player of the year were produced to the court from people including island cricket manager Dave Hearse and Guernsey Cricket Board chairman Dave Piesing.
Meades’ father Robert, a serving police sergeant from Victoria, Australia, told the court how the incident had put two loving families under stress.
He said his son was genuinely remorseful and begged the court to give him a chance.
Defence counsel Advocate Peter Ferbrache said that Meades was a decent and intelligent young man who came from a law-abiding family.
He had bought a property with his fiancee last year, which he was spending up to 100 hours a week renovating.
‘He is outgoing, sociable and sporty. He is an island-class cricketer - probably better than that,’ he said.
The wedding had been postponed indefinitely, the court heard.
‘He wants to get on with marriage arrangements,’ said Advocate Ferbrache.
Meades was ashamed of his actions and had not gone out with any intention of causing harm to Mr Pontin, he said.
Advocate Ferbrache argued that a fine and long suspended sentence would send out a message that this type of behaviour was unacceptable. He urged the court to consider an option other than prison.
The resisting arrest was at the lower end of the scale, counsel submitted.
An excellent social inquiry report considered the likelihood of reoffending very low and the probation service supported a suspended sentence.
Mr Collas accepted that Meades, pictured above, was a talented cricketer who had a great deal to offer the island.
But this was a serious assault and the nature of his response had been disproportionate.
‘The severity can only be dealt with by a custodial sentence,’ he said, adding that taking all factors into account, including the impact on the victim, the court could not suspend it.
Crown Advocate Graeme McKerrell said that Mr Pontin’s actions in the Ship & Crown had been entirely consistent with his duties as a licensee.
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