Let-off for thug who kicked cancer victim like a football
A THUG who attacked a terminally-ill grandfather and kicked his head “like a football” has walked free from court.
Vicious Reece Kent, 19, repeatedly punched Ken Oliver in the head and kicked him when he fell because he mistakenly thought he was the father of a girl he knew.
Cancer sufferer Mr Oliver, 62, who has been given just three months to live, was left in a pool of blood on his doorstep with horrific facial injuries including a cracked cheekbone.
Kent admitted the attack – which was filmed by friends on a mobile phone – and pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm.
But Mr Oliver, a grandfather-of-three, watched in disbelief as his attacker walked free from St Albans Crown Court, Herts, with a six-month suspended sentence.
He said yesterday: “I could quite easily have died. I was expecting him to go to jail. I am gutted. I am appalled at the sentence. They were swearing and laughing in my face. His barrister said he feels remorse but when he turned up in court he just sneered at me.”
The court heard how last October Kent and two friends banged on the door of Mr Oliver’s home in Broxbourne, Herts, at 3.30am asking for someone called Molly.
As Kent launched the attack, his friends filmed the assault with a mobile phone.
Recorder Peter Digney told Kent he had decided by the “slightest margin” not to send him to jail. Kent, of Broxbourne, was ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work and to pay £1,000 in compensation to Mr Oliver.