THIS is the horrifying moment a man left his former friend's face in a "complete and utter mess" over an unpaid debt.

Jonathan Barr battered his ex-pal on a housing estate in Northern Ireland on June 2 last year.

And the horror beating was captured on a nearby Ring doorbell.

Barr walked free from court after being handed a 32-month prison sentence on November 8.

Judge Geoffrey Miller KC told the 36-year-old he was suspending it for three years due to what he described as “highly exceptional circumstances.”

He said while the attack which left the victim suffering from multiple and complex facial fractures was “utterly reprehensible,” the judge said Barr’s “explosion of uncontrolled violence” was in circumstances where the victim chose to put his interest above that of his former friend and to treat the undisclosed debt in a “cavalier manner.”

Barr, from Ballyvester Grove in Bangor, Co Down, had entered a guilty plea to causing grievous bodily harm but that was not accepted by the PPS.

They took the case to a trial on the more serious charge of GBH with intent, even though the victim refused to co-operate and refused to testify.

At the end of his trial at Downpatrick Crown Court, the jury acquitted Barr of the more serious charge and Judge Miller told him that meant he was entitled to full credit for pleading guilty.

Turning to the facts of the case, the judge outlined how Barr had been walking close to his home with his children on June 2 last year when the victim jumped over a fence and the two men had an “animated discussion.”

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'GRAPHIC AND APPALLING'

Judge Miller told the court: “The defendant confronted the victim about money owed to him and he gave various excuses for not paying back."

He added that Barr then sent his children home but when they had left the street, “the defendant turned and punched him twice to the face.”

Revealing that most of the “graphic and appalling” incident was captured on a doorbell camera, the judge continued: “The injured party fell backwards to the ground from the first blow and hit his head on the ground on the kerb and from this point on appears to be unconscious.

“Notwithstanding that he [Barr] bent over him and punched him about the face a further 12 times, shouting verbal abuse as he did so.”

The defendant walked off, leaving the victim lying bleeding and unconscious in the street but he returned a short time later and put him into the recovery position, leaving again when a neighbour said she would contact the emergency services.

When the victim was examined at the Ulster Hospital, x-rays revealed he had sifted a “series of complex facial fractures”.

And although the judge listed the multiple fractures to the victim nose, eye sockets and cheek bones he summarised that in short, “his face was a complete and utter mess.”

'MERCILESS ATTACK'

Although there was no victim impact statement, Judge Miller said given the nature and extent of the injuries “he will have been left with long lasting damage, both physically and psychologically.”

“This was a brutal and merciless attack which could, in other circumstances, have lead to a fatality and you facing a charge of at least manslaughter if not murder,” he told Barr who, “in stark contract to the aggression and violence” on this day, was a family man with a clear record who had contributed to his community.

Imposing the suspended jail sentence, Judge Miller warned Barr that if he committed any further offences he would serve the 32 months in addition to any other sentence.

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