The Case

Where the defendant had participated in an affray (during which a man was killed), having sprayed the father of the deceased with ammonia whilst he was trying to tend to the deceased, the sentence of four years' imprisonment on conviction was not wrong in principle or manifestly excessive. Whilst the authorities indicated that sentences of two-and-a-half years' imprisonment had either been approved, or custodial terms reduced to around that level, where a defendant, particularly if acting alone, had unlawfully sprayed a noxious or corrosive substance, longer sentences would be merited, or indeed wholly necessary, where significant aggravating features were present. In the instant case, the judge had been fully entitled to give full weight to the context of the assault, namely, a terrifying episode of violence at a wedding in which a young man had been killed.