A judge has said the island’s laws do not give sufficient powers for sentencing people convicted of assault.

Deemster Graeme Cook was speaking as he sentenced Karl Cameron, aged 33, of no fixed abode.

The court heard that on April 8 at 3.30am as Bordello was closing down, a doorman saw Cameron chatting to another man while sitting on opposite sides of a picnic table.

Cameron walked round to the other side of the bench and continued talking to the other man, before punching him and leaving. The police were called and found the victim with blood coming from his mouth and arrested Cameron just before 4am that morning.

The man was later treated at Noble’s Hospital where he was found to have several lacerations to the inside of his mouth.

Prosecutor Rachel Braidwood said that CCTV footage of the assault showed that ‘the strike came out of nowhere’.

Defence advocate Paul Rodgers said that his client’s social inquiry report had perhaps gone too far when it referred to the incident as an ‘appealing assault’, but acknowledged that ‘any assault is inappropriate’.

Mr Rodgers also told the courts that any sentence should be reflective of the injuries and other aspects. He said he was not suggesting that this attack wasn’t serious, but that ‘there is a spectrum and this is at the lower end of this spectrum’.

The advocate said his client had qualified as a plasterer and was working with probation to find work.

It emerged thatissues at the prison meant that Cameron had not been able to access mental health services while on remand.

A further issue surrounding the use of the Police National Computer system meant that no one was able to say for certain whether or not Cameron had committed this attack while under an unexpired sentence for a previous offence. This was because it wasn’t possible to confirm how long he had been on remand for in the previous instance.

This led to Ms Braidwood saying that, while it seemed like Caaeron had breached his sentenced expiry date, it ‘would not be fair’ to sentence him for that.

In sentencing Deemster Cook said that Cameron has an ‘appalling record’, even while being conscious of his mental health issues.

However, when looking at the sentencing powers for causing actual bodily harm, he added: ‘The law on the Isle of Man, in my respectful opinion, does not go far enough where assaults are concerned.’

Deemster Cook sentenced Cameron to a 10-month sentence, suspended for two years. He will also be subject to a two-year supervision order.