A man responsible for a brutal beating that cost his victim a kidney, was sent to Supreme Court for sentencing yesterday.

Dakari Hollis, 24, pleaded guilty in Magistrates' Court to causing grievous bodily harm - kicking a Pembroke man who fell off his cycle on November 13 last year - as well as stealing liquor last month.

Hollis of Radnor Road Close in Hamilton Parish has previous convictions for violence and the prosecution requested that he be sent to Supreme Court so that a heftier sentence could be meted out.

The court heard that the assault stemmed from a minor road traffic accident. The victim was trying to leave Morton's New World Bakery on Glebe Road when a car carrying Hollis and a few friends came around the corner, said Crown counsel Wayne Caines.

To avoid a collision, the victim began to manoeuvre but lost control of the bike and fell to the road.

Hollis got out of the car, approached the victim and said: "What are you trying to do? I've got a mind to kick you," said Mr. Caines. Despite apologies from the victim, Hollis kicked the fallen motorist in the chest and abdominal area several times, causing internal bleeding and then left him in the middle of road. The victim managed to ride his motorbike to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital where he underwent emergency surgery to have the damaged kidney removed, said Mr. Caines.

Acting on information from the victim, Police found and arrested Hollis, who refused to say anything during interviews.

Mr. Caines said Hollis has a previous record which included a 1998 conviction for assaulting a Police officer as well as causing grievous bodily harm to another man in the same incident.

He told acting Senior Magistrate Carlisle Greaves: "Considering his record, considering his heinous nature for which he was originally charged with attempted murder, I ask that he be sent to Supreme Court for sentencing."

The maximum penalty for a summary conviction in Magistrates' Court is 12 months imprisonment whilst an indictable conviction in Supreme Court brings a maximum five-year sentence, said Mr. Caines.

When Mr. Greaves agreed, Hollis tried to change his plea to not guilty and asked for a long-form preliminary inquiry - a long process where the court looks over the evidence to decide whether the defendant has a case to answer.

But Mr. Greaves said he would not change the plea.

In addition to the guilty plea for grievous bodily harm, Hollis admitted stealing of two bottles of Cockspur rum and a bottle of Guinness from Shelly Bay MarketPlace on October 17.

Hollis was sentenced to 18 months in prison in the face of his previous record which includes, receiving a stolen mobile phone and a watch in 1994 and stealing a pair of Nike shoes from Boyle's earlier this year.

"I think I have a drinking problem," he said as Mr. Caines read the last evidence that Hollis was supposed to appear in court for other offences but failed to show.

"You don't have an alcohol problem, you have a stealing problem," responded Mr. Greaves.