- October 26, 2021
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Harrison Amos left woman needing a metal plate in her face and fearing other people after barbershop attack
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A barber has been told he must pay £2,000 compensation to a woman he assaulted in a salon, breaking her cheekbone and leaving her needing a metal plate inserted, after she repeatedly hit him.
Harrison Amos, aged 26, pleaded guilty at Plymouth Crown Court to the charge of causing grievous bodily harm following an incident at the Projects barbers and tattoo parlour in Cornwall Street on December 3, 2020.
Prosecutor Sally Daulton told the court that his victim, Elisabete Texeira, had entered the salon with the intention of going upstairs to visit a friend in the tattoo parlour.
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However, due to previous altercations between her and Amos, now of Newent in Gloucestershire, Amos had claimed to have banned her from the building. The court heard that despite his claim, statements from his manager at the barbers where he worked insisted Ms Texeira was not banned.
The court heard that Amos had repeatedly told the woman to leave, becoming verbally abusive to her as she attempted to go upstairs. Witness statements confirmed that Ms Texeira began to strike Amos around the head and at one stage is said to have hurled a large bin at him.
The court heard an audio recording of a 999 call from Amos demanding police attend, saying he had been assaulted. Amos went on to swear on occasion, telling the call handler that if they did not send police immediately "I'm going to f***ing hurt her".
The court was then shown mobile phone footage of Amos striking Ms Texeira twice around the face, knocking her onto a sofa.
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Ms Daulton explained that Ms Texeira needed surgery and still had a metal plate in her face and no feeling in her cheek area due to a fractured cheekbone.
She noted that while Amos had pleaded guilty, the Crown did not accept the basis of plea, in that he claimed he was swinging his arms when Ms Texeira was struck – whereas the prosecution said he deliberately struck her twice in the face.
In mitigation, Amos' advocate Francesca Whebell explained that her client was very sorry that he had hit out in frustration at Ms Texeira, but only after he had himself sustained several blows to the face, head and neck.
She presented the court with a photograph of Amos which showed reddening around those areas and noted his original 999 call which saw him report that he had been assaulted by Ms Texeira, which she had admitted to doing.
She noted that the incident arose after several months of altercations between them, one of which had resulted in Amos saying he had banned Ms Texeira, although he was later told he did not have this authority and she was permitted to visit a friend in the upstairs tattoo parlour.
A report from the Probation Service noted that Amos had suffered from poor mental health for a number of years, had been diagnosed with ADHD and was suspected to be autistic although he had not undergone a formal diagnosis. Ms Whebell said that his father had not wanted Amos to be diagnosed and so he had not undergone the formal process leaving him to feel that he was "different from everyone" and "wants to be more normal".
The court heard that Amos suffered from anxiety and had self-harmed a number of times in the past, cutting his arms and legs. He had been given crisis support when youngers and was recognised from having suicidal thoughts. She said the report found that Amos found it hard to follow things and it would take all his focus just to try and sit still. As a result he himself had been victim of a number of attacks over the years.
Despite these drawbacks, he had achieve a modicum of success and stability in his work at the barbers and had become settled. Unfortunately, he had lost his job at the Cornwall Street barbers and the barbers he had been working at since he had decided to leave Plymouth had fired him only yesterday when he revealed he had to attend court.
He was set to attend an interview for a job at another barber's on Monday, but with no income had had to borrow a bicycle to travel to the court and the interview.
Ms Whebell said that such was her client's high levels of anxiety at the possible outcome of the court hearing, he had since the incident lost a large amount of weight, going from more than 16 stone down to just 11 stone.
Reading her victim impact statement to the court Ms Texeira said: "I was told I have a broken eye socket and a cheekbone. This ruin my Christmas and obviously my girls' Christmas. I had a swollen face and was prescribed very strong painkillers with sleeping tablets to try to help me to cope.
"I'm a business owner and this incident, I was house-bound and mostly in bed and completely unavailable to effectively run my business. The New Year required a number of hospital treatment appointments. I was required to undergo surgery where I have a metal places inserted in my face to help me to recover from the injuries.
"These plates remain in my face for seven months. I'm hoping by the feeling of my left side of my face will return, but I'm still unable to feel the sensation in most of the rest of my side of my face. I also had issues following the incident with my left eye."
She said that her vision had been affected and she had attended the eye infirmary to address this, but to date her vision had not returned to normal.
She said that as a result of the assault and her injuries it had affected her mental health and she had been afraid to leave home, had felt "worried and anxious" around other people who she didn't know, adding: "I don't feel as safe as I used to. This whole incident changed me a lot."
Judge William Mousley QC told Amos he recognised there had been "history" between him and Ms Texeira, but he had started the argument on that day by claiming she was barred from the property when she was not. He said he accepted that Ms Texeira had struck him in the fact but his level of violence in reply was completely unnecessary and showed a "complete loss of control", leaving her suffering a serious injury.
He gave him credit for his guilty plea and noted the Probation Service report which suggested there was a good prospect of rehabilitation. As such he handed Amos a 21 month prison sentence, suspended for two years. He was ordered to complete 200 hours unpaid work and complete 20 days of a Rehabilitation Activity Requirement. In addition he was ordered to pay £2,000 compensation to Ms Texeira within two years.
He also made Amos subject to a five year restraining order not to contact Ms Texeira, nor her businesses in Cornwall Street, nor to post anything on social media about her.
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