Judge criticises club after glass attack
A JUDGE has criticised the management of The Square nightclub in Daventry for not supplying customers with polycarbonate glasses.
Judge Richard Bray made the remarks when sentencing Alice Hopper, 19, to a suspended prison sentence for glassing a female rival.
Hopper, of Buscot Park, Daventry pleaded guilty at Northampton Crown Court on Tuesday of wounding with a glass at the nightclub on November 21, 2010.
Andrew Howarth, prosecuting, said the victim had been on a night out with friends at the club in Bowen Square when, at 1am, she and a friend decided to go outside for a cigarette.
As they walked past a group containing Hopper, the victim’s friend was barged into, causing her to stumble; as they got involved in an argument, the victim tried to intervene.
When she did, Hopper confronted her and said she was going to glass her. Hopper hit her on the right side of the head with a glass which did not break.
Mr Howarth said: “As they fell to the floor and began grappling, pulling hair, she felt another blow to her head.”
The victim suffered two superficial cuts to her head, including a gash to the middle of her forehead.
Hopper was sentenced to 50 weeks’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, and ordered to do 120 hours’ community service. She must also pay £800 compensation and £1,200 costs.
Judge Bray said: “Violence of this kind can not be condoned. I cannot leave this case without commenting yet again about the supply of glasses in nightclubs.
“It has been clear for years that the supply of polycarbonate or plastic glasses would save hundreds of thousands of pounds to the state each year when you take into account the hospital treatment, the police’s involvement and the courts’ involvement as well.
“Yet those who manage these premises continue to supply, for entirely selfish reasons, glasses which cause serious injuries and even nowadays to young women which can affect them for the rest of their lives.”
Steven Evans, mitigating, said Hopper was holding down two jobs to save up for her gap year, and told the court: “Her days of clubbing are now behind her.
“You are unlikely to ever see her in court again.”
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Sunday 19 May 2013
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