A sentence of 18 months imprisonment (suspended after two months) for assault occasioning bodily harm while armed and in company is not manifestly excessive where the attack was cowardly and premeditated against an unarmed person, even where the offender did not physically strike the victim but menaced with a weapon. A prior conviction for violence approximately 20 years earlier remains relevant to sentencing, particularly where it also involved premeditated violence against an unarmed victim. The Neivandt/Denyer principle regarding trivial remaining periods of imprisonment does not apply where 51 days remain to be served.
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