The appropriate sentencing range for unlawfully doing grievous bodily harm involving use of a weapon (scissors) in a public place, where the offender is young, has no history of violence, pleads guilty early, and the offence arises in the context of a prior physical altercation rather than gratuitous attack, is three to four years imprisonment rather than five to six years. Not all violence occurring in public places should be equated with the most serious category of gratuitous street violence for sentencing purposes.
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