Assault with rock lands house arrest

Twenty-year old Harmony resident, Coby Merry first pled innocent to the charges last Nov. but changed his plea to guilty for the charge of assault causing bodily harm. The two other charges including assault and uttering threats were stayed.

He must also have anger management and spousal violence interventions counseling and will be on probation for a year following his sentence.

The incident occurred at the Queens County Fairgrounds in Caledonia last fall shortly after the victim then 17-year old Megan Forrest and Merry ended their relationship.

“There was a bit of a melee at the Caledonia Exhibition last year,” said Crown Attorney Murray Judge, “prompted by the relationship going sour.”

Judge said that two different groups of family and friends of the ex-couple got into a raucous prior to the incident.

“He then hurled a rock that struck Megan just below her left eye, giving her lacerations to the face,” said Judge.

He also explained that an incident with that level of violence usually calls for jail time but given Merry’s age and no previous record the court found him to be able to serve his sentence in the community without endangering the public at large.

“He is not a career criminal,” said Judge. “This is something that happened because o f his relationship with Ms. Forrest and the fallout from when it ended.”

Earlier reports from the Forrest family told of broken bones in seven places, a broken eye socket, collapsed sinus cavity and a jaw that had to be realigned with reconstructive surgery.

However, according to Judge there was no mention of broken bones in the case stating that Forrest did not follow up immediately after the incident and there was no victim impact statement on record.

“It was a fairly serious injury,” said Judge, “and it could have been a lot worse.”