Two American men jailed for three months for attacking a tourist could lose their jobs and homes if they are not released, devastated family members claimed yesterday.

Joseph Pontieri and Michael Donovan were sent to Westgate last week by Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner after they admitted causing grievous bodily harm to fellow US cruise ship passenger Christopher Emanuel on Front Street.

An appeal against their sentence was due to be heard at Supreme Court Three yesterday but was adjourned until tomorrow because their lawyer, Llewellyn Peniston, did not serve the court with the correct papers.

Pontieri?s wife Carolyn, who arrived on the Island on Monday night from New Jersey with Donovan?s father, cried outside court yesterday as she clutched their four-month-old son, also called Joseph.

She told : ?I just feel disbelief. I think the sentence is completely unfair and ridiculous. Even the prosecution didn?t ask for jail time. It?s over the top.?

She and Donovan?s wife Brenda had stayed on the cruise ship on the evening of the attack and went back to New York expecting their husbands, both elevator mechanics, to follow after their court appearance.

The 27-year-old said she was stunned when she heard they had been imprisoned. Mrs. Pontieri added that her husband?s salary was the family?s only source of income. ?I don?t know what we are going to do,? she said.

Thomas Donovan, 60, said he did not condone his son?s behaviour but felt the prison term was too tough. ?I think they should have taken into consideration that these two individuals do not have a Police record. ?They have got 90 days in a maximum security prison. I?m not saying that they shouldn?t have been punished but they could have been fined up to $7,500 each, which they were more than willing to pay.?

Donovan, 34, of Bard Avenue, Staten Island, and Pontieri, 29, of Lexington Circle, New Jersey, attacked and kicked Mr. Emanuel, 38, after Pontieri rowed with him in Splash nightclub.

Their victim suffered a broken jaw, lacerated eyebrow and cut face. Sentencing them, Mr. Warner said they had to be treated ?just like residents?.

Thomas Donovan revealed that his son, who has a two-year-old daughter, has already visited the prison infirmary because of medical problems.

?His hip is completely gone and he?s supposed to be getting into the hospital for a hip replacement.

?He?s a very bad asthmatic and his two-year-old baby has a kidney problem. His wife has stayed at home to look after her.?

Mr. Donovan, who spoke to his son after yesterday?s hearing, added: ?He seemed very upset. He is very in remorse about the whole thing. They could lose their jobs. They are going to end up losing their houses.?

He said his wife was ?on the verge of a nervous breakdown? because of the sentence and his son?s wife was ?very, very upset?.

?For them to be in jail; we are not that type of family and neither is Joe,? he added.

Mr. Donovan, who has offered to pay Mr. Emanuel?s medical bills, said he was bitterly disappointed that the appeal hearing had not gone ahead.

He added: ?I have been to Bermuda about six or seven times but I would never come again. I don?t think I would go to a British island again.?

Mr. Peniston criticised Crown counsel Cindy Clarke for what he claimed were ?ambush tactics? in court yesterday morning.

She told Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves that the documents served by Mr. Peniston for the appeal had not been prepared properly so the hearing could not go ahead.

Mr. Peniston argued that he had served the papers last Friday and neither she nor Supreme Court Registry staff had told him there was a problem. ?I would maintain that the issues here are so thoroughly compelling that they can rise above, in the interests of justice, these minor points that can be corrected,? he said. ?There are family considerations here.?

But Mr. Justice Greaves said of the documents: ?It seems to be they are so far west they can?t get back east.?

He told Mr. Peniston it was not up to Ms Clarke to tell him how to do his job. The judge agreed with Ms Clarke that the documents were not in order and adjourned the case.

Mr. Peniston said afterwards that Donovan and Pontieri had admitted guilt as part of a plea bargain with the Crown and were told they would be fined. ?A sentence of imprisonment is the last option,? he added.

US Consul General Gregory Slayton said yesterday it was crucial that everybody obeyed the law. ?It?s important for all visitors to Bermuda and all Bermudians to obey the law here in Bermuda. Violence is never to be condoned.?