A THUG who forced his way into a family home and attacked a man with a baseball bat in front of his pregnant wife and young son has been sentenced to more than a year behind bars.
Barry Hart, 47, from Chinook, in High Woods, Colchester, was given a 13-month sentence for the act of grievous bodily harm in December last year when he entered the house on St Mary's Road, Kelvedon, and struck James Healy with a bat on his face and arm while his pregnant wife, and seven-year-old son watched.
Handing down the custodial sentence at Chelmsford Crown Court on Tuesday Recorder Sandeep Kainth said prison was the only option he had for the "unprovoked assault".
"The household of Mr Healy are having difficulty in coming to terms with what has taken place, more so the seven-year-old child, it may stay with him for a considerable amount of time," he said.
"Everybody expects to be safe in our own homes; it has sanctity where we can escape everything that takes place outside our front doors. You don't expect someone coming to your front door and behaving as you did – you took the law into your own hands."
Hart had pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm at Chelmsford Crown Court on Tuesday, March 11 following his arrest over the incident which took place on Sunday, December 29 after an argument which had not even concerned him, the court heard.
The 47-year-old, who stood in the dock wearing a grey Everest Boxing t-shirt as he learned his fate, had barged his way into the family's home armed with a baseball bat which he used to strike Mr Healy on the nose and arm, leaving the 34-year-old father needing an operation, and possibly plastic surgery.
He then jabbed the weapon toward Mr Healy's pregnant wife Sophie in full view of their seven-year-old son.
"You may feel that the sentence is greater than it should have been but I have been as lenient as my public duty will allow," added Recorder Kainth.
Hart will serve the 13-month sentence for grievous bodily harm concurrently with a six-month sentence for possession of a weapon.
He was also given a three-year restraining order preventing him from contact with the victim and his family, or from going near to their home address.
The court did not discuss Hart's motive for the attack.
