COUNTY - An assault that left a woman with a fractured skull, a brain injury and a host of other difficulties has landed a Chester Grant man on house arrest for 11 months.

 That's the length of the conditional sentence order which Chad Wesley Swinimer received August 30 in Bridgewater provincial court.

 Mr. Swinimer, 29, and a group of friends had been drinking at a Chester tavern on August 20, 2009, when they made their way to a local wharf. They ended up in an argument with a man and a woman who were fishing at the wharf after one of them decided he wanted to go for a swim there.

 There was a brief scuffle, then a second fight. It was during that altercation that Mr. Swinimer struck the 49-year-old woman in the head with a piece of fence wood.

 According to a victim impact statement filed with the court, the assault left the grandmother with a fractured skull and four broken ribs. She continues to suffer the effects of the brain injury, including headaches, dizziness and memory loss.

 She is unable to work and feels she will never be the same person she was before the attack.

 Mr. Swinimer told a probation officer who prepared a pre-sentence report in the case that he is remorseful about what happened. He has several prior convictions, but none for violence.

 He received nine months for the assault with a weapon, an additional month for breaching the terms of his release by drinking last September and an additional month for having marijuana at his home when it was searched by police on September 20 of last year.

 While on the conditional sentence order and for two years following when he'll be on probation, Mr. Swinimer must take counselling as directed. He is to stay clear of alcohol and drugs and the couple involved in the assault.

 Mr. Swinimer was also banned from having firearms for 10 years and must submit a DNA sample to the national criminal data bank.

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 A second man charged in connection with the wharf assault was sentenced in July after admitting he threw rocks at the woman and kicked the man during the altercation. Joel Ray Meister, 27, received 18 months on probation for what Crown and defence agreed was his lesser role in the events.

posted on 09/07/10