Feb 13 - Local Man Jailed For Glassing A Woman In Salsa Fuego
A local man has been jailed for a total of one year and six months after he admitted to throwing a glass at a woman’s face in the Salsa Fuego nightclub.
Stephan Dotto, 23, pleaded guilty to one charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
The court heard how, in the early hours of 23rd February 2013, Dotto was having an argument with his girlfriend in the Salsa Fuego nightclub. Another woman intervened and an altercation ensued during which the woman slapped Dotto’s face. Dotto, reacting to this, threw a glass at her face.
The glass shattered and caused the victim a black eye, three small lacerations and multiple scratches. The victim left the establishment and collapsed in Casemates Square while Dotto escaped from the area and left Gibraltar. Dotto returned to Gibraltar some 15 months later and handed himself in to police.
Dotto’s lawyer, Chris Miles, told the court that his client was “deeply sorry” for the incident and the harm it caused. He said that his client, despite having gone to university and completed further studies, had allowed his life to be ruined by acts of violence.
Puisne Judge Karen Prescott, at the end of a sentencing hearing this morning in the Supreme Court, said that the assault had caused a serious injury. Once again, she highlighted the worrying increase in the number of glassings that the court had dealt with in recent months.
Dotto had previously been handed a six month suspended sentence for another case of assault occasioning actual bodily harm in July 2012. The Judge told the court that she would have to activate this suspended sentence as it was still in force when Dotto assaulted the woman in Salsa Fuego.
She sentenced him to serve one year in prison for the glassing. This sentence will be served consecutive to the activated six month sentence. Therefore, Dotto will spend a total of one year and six months in jail. He was also ordered to pay the victim £200 in compensation.
Jamie Lennane appeared for the Crown.
