Would Luis Suárez go to prison if he bit someone in the street?
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Version 0 of 1. So what will happen to Luis Suárez now? Fifa has opened disciplinary proceedings, having taken the view that footage of him biting Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini constitutes "an apparent breach of art. 48 and/or art. 57 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code". Those articles, just to refresh your memory, relate to "misconduct against an opponent" and "offensive behaviour". Article 48 specifies a ban of "at least two matches for assaulting an opponent", and adds that the committee can also impose fines, which can range from 300 up to 1,000,000 Swiss francs. (That's somewhere between £200 and £660,000.) "At least" may well be the key phrase here, however. Biting is a fairly serious form of assaulting an opponent, and Suárez is already one of the most prolific miscreants in the game. If this case is proven, he will have either bitten or racially abused an opposing player in four out of the past five years. Bookmaker William Hill is offering odds of 11/10-on that Suárez will be banned by Fifa for a minimum of seven games. Victor Chandler is offering just 3/1 against that he will be banned for 25 or more. (Fifa's code stipulates that a ban could not exceed 24 matches or 24 months.) But why should anybody's punishment be measured in football matches? Biting somebody – let alone biting three people – is not just against the laws of football, it is against the law. The police and CPS seem happy to leave most of the violence on football pitches to the game's own legal system, but had Suárez jogged over to Giorgio Chiellini and bitten him in the street – and let's assume this is an English street – would that not be assault? "Absolutely," says Hannah Evans, a criminal barrister at 23 Essex Street. "And if it was captured on TV you've got some nice evidence right there." Under English law, Evans explains, a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm could be brought if the alleged bite did damage, such as breaking the skin, causing bleeding or leaving a mark, but a charge of common assault, to be heard without a jury in a magistrate's court, would be more likely. Assuming a prosecution for common assault then, what kind of sentence would Suárez expect if he were convicted in England? "You're not looking at anything particularly high. If he hasn't got any form for it, not more than a community order, I would imagine. Unpaid work, perhaps between 180 and 240 hours. Since it was such a public offence a court might want to send a warning. An anger-management programme could be an option." But of course Suárez does have form. So what would happen if he had two previous convictions for biting? "With assault you are still very rarely looking at custody, but if the offences are very similar and he clearly isn't learning from his experience in the courts, they could well think that it does cross the custody threshold. And they could suspend any custodial sentence. You'd be looking at a short one, though. A matter of weeks." On reflection, Suárez might feel that 24 matches would be worse. |