Two brothers have admitted assaulting a man after a night out in Lynn which left him heavily injured and “ruined his Christmas”.
Daniel and Joshua Santoro appeared at Lynn’s Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, where they both pleaded guilty to the offence of assault causing actual bodily harm.
Daniel Santoro, 26, of Seabank Road in Wisbech, also admitted to causing criminal damage and having cocaine, a Class A drug, in his possession.
On December 23, 2022, he and his brother Joshua Santoro, 28, of Wisbech Road in Lynn, were out celebrating Christmas in Lynn’s town centre.
Prosecutor Emma Pocknell said that between the hours of 2.30am and 3.30am, the brothers had left a nightclub and made their way to a nearby kebab shop.
The court was told they saw an altercation which they both got involved in verbally to start off with.
Punches were exchanged between both the brothers and the victim – who was dragged to the floor.
In a victim impact statement, the victim said that they do not remember much from the incident except from being punched and kicked.
They were left with a cut on their eyebrow which had to be glued back together and popped blood vessels, along with other bruising.
The statement also stated the victim had trouble sleeping at the time because of the injuries and that it “ruined his Christmas”.
Police reviewed CCTV footage and identified the brothers on Albert Street in Lynn and started a police chase.
Santoro Jnr ran towards a parked vehicle and opened the door, smashing the neighbouring car’s wing mirror.
Officers arrested Santoro Snr and Jnr and, during the process, found three bags of white powder in Santoro Jnr’s possession.
Mitigating for both brothers was Charlotte Winchester, who said: “Joshua pleaded guilty, he was out for celebrating Christmas and went over after seeing that trouble was brewing.
“He did get involved and threw that first punch. He had a black eye and the victim punched back.”
Ms Winchester continued: “In relation to Daniel, he saw his brother getting punched and got involved to protect his brother.”
It was said that Santoro Jnr had the cocaine for personal use.
A pre-sentence report was carried out previously for both of the brothers to decide if a community order would be an appropriate punishment.
Magistrates decided to give both brothers a 24-month community order which involves 250 hours of unpaid work for both.
It also involves 25 rehabilitation activity days and the requirement to wear an alcohol monitoring tag for three months.
Each brother was ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £114 and court costs of £87.
Santoro Jnr was also ordered to pay £352.78 in compensation for breaking the wing mirror.
