Sutton man waited 34 years to punch his father in the face
A Sutton man who left his father needing eight stitches in his tongue after punching him in the face later said he had been waiting 34 years to do it, a court has heard.
Michael Gilbert was arguing with a friend of his father's at The Picture House at 8.45pm on September 27 last year, said Hannah Strawson, prosecuting.
They hadn't seen each other for a year or more and when Gilbert's father tried to intervene, the defendant punched him in the face.
He was knocked to the floor and sustained a large 2cms by 4cms cut on his tongue when he bit it as he fell.
“34 years I have been waiting to do that,” Gilbert later posted on social media. “He went down like a sack of spuds.”
The court heard he has “a lot of previous convictions” but is not heavily convicted for assault.
Rebecca Meadows, mitigating, said: “It was not pre-planned. They didn’t know they were going to see each other. It was impulsive and spontaneous.”
Although Gilbert still misuses other drugs he hasn’t used heroin for the last three years and is engaging with a substance misuse agency, she said.
She argued any sentence could be suspended as there is a clear prospect of his rehabilitation and he deserves credit for his guilty plea.
Gilbert also breached a community order, imposed on December 16 for racially-aggravated assault, by failing to attend probation appointments.
Gilbert, now 35, of Outram Street, admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm when he appeared at Nottingham Magistrates Court on February 18.
On Wednesday, he received a 14-week sentence, suspended for 18 months, with 20 rehabilitation days.