Ex soldier left traumatised sees bottle attacker jailed

Cory Schofield was left with horrific facial injuries after hotel porter Jose-Maria Alves-Semedo-Junior lashed out with a bottle neck at people enjoying a night out in Bradshawgate on October 20 last year.

Mr Schofield suffered a deep wound above his left eye which needed surgery and 31 stitches, passer-by Ryan Spencer suffered a 12mm deep gash to the back of his neck which needed eight stitches and doorman Ben Shorrock had a cut arm.

Alves, who came to the UK in January last year from Cape Verde, pleaded guilty to two counts of intentionally causing grievous bodily harm, causing actual bodily harm and possessing an offensive weapon.

Jose-maria Alves-Semedo-Junior.

At Bolton Crown Court Judge Richard Gioserano jailed him for six years and told him: "This was extreme violence by you with a weapon.

"It is the sort of behaviour that scares people from going out at all. People have to understand it will not be tolerated."

David Lees, prosecuting, told the court how, just before 3am Alves became involved in an altercation with a man outside the ROC bar on Bradshawgate.

He picked up a bottle and a broken bottle neck. The bottle was taken from him by a doorman, but Mr Shorrock did not see the broken bottle in his other hand when he tried to restrain Alves as he became aggressive towards a group of men.

"Mr Shorrock later realised he was bleeding from his arm," said Mr Lees.

Alves, still holding the bottle neck, made off down the road but, shortly afterwards, became involved in an argument with Mr Schofield, who was out for the night with friends.

Cory Schofield.

But as passer-by Ryan Spencer walked towards them, raising his fist in what Judge Gioserano described as a"drunken greeting" Alves lashed out, stabbing him in the back of the neck.

Mr Schofield then punched the attacker and Alves responded by thrusting the broken bottle into his face.

He lost consciousness as he was rushed to hospital and Alves was arrested as he tried to leave the town centre in a taxi.

In a victim statement read out in court he said: "It has really shocked and sickened me and my family.

"This incident has really scared me to the point where I struggle to leave the house now."

Mr Schofield, who served in the Fusiliers for three years, said: "Nothing has scared me more in my life than this. That I could have died or lost an eye breaks my heart."

Colin Buckle, defending 28-year-old Alves, of Mountain Street, Worsley, said he comes from a professional family in Cape Verde, had obtained a job as a night porter at the Mecure hotel in Blackrod and was planning to do a degree in hospitality at the University of Bolton.

On Thursday last week he became a father for the first time when his partner gave birth to their son.

"He will have no real hand in the child's upbringing for some considerable time," said Mr Buckle.

"These are disastrous consequences for the defendant."

The court heard that Alves claimed he had been defending himself when he lashed out, but Judge Gioserano said the verbal confrontations of the sort he became involved in are, unfortunately, a regular occurrence in towns and cities at night.

"This is the sort of thing that happens all the time outside pubs and clubs but people don't get stabbed with broken glass," he said.

He added that Alves had aimed a "well intended blow" to Mr Schofield's face.

"This was not you lashing out indiscriminately," he said.

Speaking after the hearing Mr Schofield, said the sentence was "fair but not long enough".

"I am not an aggressive person. For me to even throw a punch is very rare," he said.

"The only thing I remember is my head pouring with blood and just collapsing."

He is due to undergo cosmetic surgery on his face and is so self-conscious about his scar that he wears a baseball cap in public to hide it.

Mr Schofield, who served three years in the Army, has now lost his job as a dental technician due to the trauma he suffered on that night.

"They are pretty much putting it down to PTSD," he said.