Soldier left partially deaf by single punch
GoogleA man who fractured a soldier's skull and left him partially deaf with a single punch while on a night out has been given a suspended sentence.
Bryan Coombs, 52, struck the victim outside a bar in Sunderland city centre on 2 December 2023, Newcastle Crown Court heard, with the attacker only identified months later following a public appeal by police.
The victim said he had had to fight to prove he was still fit to be in the Army and the potential loss of his career had been devastating.
Coombs, from Sunderland, initially denied wrongdoing but on the day he was due to stand trial admitted causing grievous bodily harm and was jailed for nine months suspended for 18 months.
The victim had been out with friends in Sunderland when he and Coombs began talking outside a bar, prosecutor Lucy Todd said.
Footage from a CCTV camera showed Coombs, of Gayhurst Crescent, suddenly lash out with a single blow to the victim's face, causing him to fall to the ground unconscious.
He was taken to Sunderland Royal Hospital where he was found to have injuries including fractures to his skull, bleeding on the brain and a perforated ear drum.
Northumbria Police put out a public appeal to find the attacker, with Coombs identified from a CCTV image in June 2024.
'Gruelling' rehabilitation
In a statement read to the court, the victim, who had joined the Army in 2011, said he was in pain for months and doctors initially said he would have to leave his job.
"I thought 'what am I going to do next, there is no other job I want to do'," the man said.
"I felt completely worthless, this was horrible."
He put himself through a "gruelling" rehabilitation regime to prove he could stay in the Army, but the attack had cost him promotions and caused him to change his role, which was "frustrating and disheartening".
He said he still struggled with his hearing and had suffered memory loss, and needed regular assessments to confirm he was still fit to serve.
The court heard Coombs, who was ordered to pay £400 towards court costs at a rate of £10 a week, had 65 offences on his criminal record but the last was in 2014.
Recorder Andrew Latimer said he would have ordered Coombs to pay compensation but, given his poor financial position, the small amount possible could have "short changed" the victim and just added "insult to injury".