Frederick Anthony Swann has been sentenced to four years in prison for the brutal beating of Damon Robinson outside Champions bar.

Mr. Robinson was in a coma for a week as a result of the beating and has nerve damage around his mouth due to his jaw being broken.

Yesterday Swann, 27, who was found guilty of intent to do grievous bodily harm, begged Puisne Judge Charles-Etta Simmons for leniency stating that he never meant to harm Mr. Robinson and had prayed for his swift recovery when he learnt the extent of his injuries. And he disowned Jermaine Simmons, a man he had previously called his brother and whom prosecutors believe played the major role in the bar brawl.

Simmons never came before Bermuda's courts because he left the country hours after the attack. During the course of the Supreme Court trial witnesses said Mr. Robinson came to Champions Sports Club drunk and demanding alcohol at 5 a.m. on August 15, but the bartender refused to serve him. Moments later there was a "commotion" between Mr. Robinson and Simmons, which was broken apart by a witness and Swann.

The jury heard the victim walked to the exit and was followed by Simmons and Swann. Video footage from inside the bar showed Simmons kicking Mr. Robinson as he walked down the steps.

The prosecution said a fight ensued between Simmons and Mr. Robinson, with Swann joining in at the later stages.

Mr. Robinson suffered a broken jaw in two places, a collapsed left lung, and bleeding and swelling to his brain as a result of his injuries. After four hours a jury found Swann guilty in February.

Yesterday Crown counsel Maria Sofianos recommended six to eight years imprisonment.

Defence lawyer Larry Mussenden said he believed his client should receive two years imprisonment because Swann had initially being trying to stop the fight and his previous good character. He added that his client had turned himself in and not absconded like Simmons. Character witnesses spoke of Swann as a family man who was harmless and had aspirations.

Swann then pleaded for leniency himself "I would like to let you know that I was up in Westgate praying for you the first time I heard about the injuries," he said as he read a letter he wrote to Mr. Robinson. "I didn't think they would be that serious, I prayed for you to get better.

"Thank God you survived your injuries. This whole situation is messed up." Swann said he hoped to be friends with Mr. Robinson and did not bear him any ill will, adding that he hoped they could show Bermuda how to change.

"I just ask that you forgive me for everything I did," he said.In a letter to Mrs. Justice Simmons he said it hurt that the jury believe he had intended to harm Mr. Robinson and said he did not understand why he was the only one before the courts when all three men had participated in the brawl.

"The whole situation is beyond my character," he added. "I have never been in a situation like this before. I feel I did the right thing by handing myself in.

"I have never been away from my sons this long and I would like to know if you can be lenient. Right now they really need their father. I no longer see Jermaine as my brother.

"I am not a violent person, I am not a hoodlum and gangster, I am a family man."

But Mrs. Justice Simmons said that while Swann may not have been the instigator of the fight, or perpetrator of some of the injuries inflicted on Mr. Robinson, he did choose to get involved. In particular she noted that he punched Mr. Robinson in the head from behind despite knowing the victim was "staggering drunk".

She sentenced him to four years in prison, with time already served taken into account, and added that he could get let out early for good behaviour if he completed anger management courses and other course available in prison.

Simmons is currently locked up in a Georgia, USA, prison awaiting a drug trafficking trial