Suspended sentence after broken golf club used in street fight

As Tony Brunt “fended off” the other man, the club head came off and the shaft caused a severe stab wound to the chest, Sheffield Crown Court heard.

Ms Megan Rhys, prosecuting, said an enraged Brunt had then followed his victim to a house where he was being cared for to resume the fight but the door had been closed in his face.

The court was told 43-year-old Brunt had suffered a severe brain injury when he was in his 20s, which had caused a complete change in his personality, with his brother relating how he had transformed from a “loveable” character to someone with a short fuse.

Ms Rhys said there had been “previous issues” between the two men relating to car parking.

But on the evening of November 13 last year, they had been together at the victim’s partner’s house where they had both been drinking.

“An altercation took place and the defendant attacked the complainant, punching him several times,” said Ms Rhys.

The prosecutor said Brunt, of Langdon Walk, Kimberworth Park, and his partner had left but the complainant had followed them.

Before they began fighting in the street, Brunt had armed himself with the golf club, Ms Rhys said, which he used “to fend off the complainant.

She added: “The end of the golf club fell off and the defendant used the club to inflict a single stab wound to the chest area.”

Ms Rhys said the victim had gone to a neighbour’s for help when Brunt turned up and threatened to attack him again, before the door was closed on him.

Mr Brendan O’Leary, mitigating, referred to a psychiatric report saying that the defendant had suffered a significant brain injury which had caused a transformation in his personality.

Judge Jeremy Richardson said that after people had suffered such injuries, “when something goes wrong, they can overreact in a shocking fashion”.

Mr O’Leary said Brunt had submitted a letter that "expresses his shame and remorse”.

The judge said there had initially been a degree of self-defence in Brunt’s actions but during the confrontation he had become the aggressor.

But he noted Brunt had spent ten months on remand since the attack and concluded that “he has been punished enough”.

He urged the defendant’s family to “throw a blanket of support around him”.

Brunt admitted two counts of possessing an offensive weapon and one each of affray and unlawful wounding.

He was sentenced to a total of 18 months in prison suspended for two years but told he would be freed imminently due to the time already served.