AN UNREPENTANT defendant claimed it was an ‘absolute joke’ as he was jailed for attacking a teenager just one month after a judge took a chance on him.

Shawn Trinder, 25, who punched his teen victim several times at a property in Witney last July, claimed he’d been acting in self-defence and took the case to trial.

Despite magistrates finding him guilty of beating the youngster, the Ascot-under-Wychwood man maintained his self-defence claim in an interview with the probation service.

This week, Oxford Crown Court heard that his new conviction put him in breach of a 16 week suspended sentence, imposed in June last year for attacking his sister, threatening to burn down her house and throwing two bricks at her boyfriend’s car in 2018.

Prosecuting, Matthew Knight said the latest assault was committed just a month after that suspended sentence was imposed.

The victim, who cannot be identified as he is under-18, was left with a black eye that took around 10 days to heal. He was worried about going out in case the defendant was in town and he found himself looking over his shoulder.

Jailing him for 16 weeks for the new offence and activating the 16 week suspended sentence in full, Judge Ian Pringle QC said: “I take on board that at 25 you are beginning to turn your life around. You’ve got a job where your employer really rates you.

“I hope that job will be available to you when you are released from the prison sentence [I impose].”

He will serve half of his 32 week sentence in custody before he is released. A two year restraining order prevents him from contacting his victim or going to a property in Witney.

As he was taken down, Trinder could be heard describing the sentence as an ‘absolute joke’.

Kellie Enever, mitigating, said her client was a ‘bright individual’. “He knows exactly what the position is today and he is an individual who since July 2020 has in my submission made considerable progress,” she said.

He had regular employment and a reference from his boss, for whom he had worked since 2012, rated him highly.

Ms Enever said Trinder had lost his grandfather when he was in his teens, which caused him to turn to drink and drugs and resulted in a strained relationship with his family.

The defendant, of Ascott-under-Wychwood, had remained out of trouble since last July.

Keep up to date with all the latest news on our website, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

For news updates straight to your inbox, sign up to our newsletter here.

Have you got a story for us? Contact our newsdesk on news@nqo.com or 01865 425 445.