Household Cavalry soldier who punched woman in the face after fracas in Ibiza locked up
UPDATE: charges subsequently dropped
A Queen's guard punched a woman in the face leaving her needing seven stitches during a fracas on the party island of Ibiza.
Mathew Cooney, 22, had been skinny-dipping with friends on the first day of his holiday in the popular resort of San Antonio when he saw a group rifling through his belongings.
The Household Cavalry Trooper claimed he chased after them but they attacked him with bottles and held him down until police arrived.
Mathew Cooney, one of the Queen's guard was charged after attacking a woman during his visit to Ibiza
He insisted he had never met his female accuser, but a court in Ibiza Town rejected the former boarding school boy’s claims and found him guilty of assault against Erika Vera last August.
He was sentenced to one year in jail and ordered to pay his victim more than £5,300 in compensation.
Lawyers for Cooney, a trooper with the Hyde Park Barracks, London-based Horsehold Cavalry Mounted Regiment, are appealing the conviction.
His jail sentence is expected to be suspended even if the appeal fails - providing he pays his victim compensation - as first-time offenders are normally spared prison for sentences of two years or less in Spain.
Cooney is expected to avoid a jail sentence despite being found guilty after the attack at the popular San Antonio resort
Cooney, was a pupil at the independent £8,000-a-term Bredon School in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, and Christ College Brecon in Powys, Wales, where fees are £7,000 a term.
Although born in Germany to a military family, he grew up in Lichfield, Staffordshire, before moving to RAF Honington in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, and went on to study at Worcester University.
On his Twitter page, he writes: ‘My name’s Mathew. I am in the Army and living in London... I have been riding horses all my life and do that in the Army at the mo.’ Tweeting about his August holiday to Ibiza in June, he writes: ‘haha it’s going to be very messy again’ and ‘all booked and can’t wait come on’.
He also writes: ‘3 beers a day haha we shall see come August’ in reference to a themed boat party off the island.
On his Facebook page, he lists the Hangover, a film in which a group of men get drunk on a stag party and cause chaos, as one of his favourites and lists his activities as drinking and chilling.
He also lists ‘going clubbing’ and ‘having fun with my mates mainly at the pub lol’ as his interests on Bebo.
Cooney attended RAF Honington in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, pictured, before going on to study at Worcester University
Last week, three judges tasked with ruling on his case said in a written ruling after a one-day trial: ‘Mathew Cooney punched Erika Vera in the face at S’Arenal Beach in San Antonio at 6am on August 25 2011, causing her to fall to the ground and leaving her with wounds which required seven stitches.’
His victim told the court Cooney attacked her after seeing a drunk female friend of hers picking up his trousers from the sand and throwing them in the air.
The pair identified him by a tattoo on his arm.
Police said they discovered the Queen’s guard, thought to have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, grabbing the victim’s boyfriend after she ran up to them crying with blood on her face.
State prosecutors wanted Cooney, born in Hannover, Germany, jailed for two years, three months, but he got a lesser sentence.
Lawyers for the soldier said last night their appeal would focus on the court’s dismissal of his friends’ witness statements and claims the victim was injured by a bottle thrown by one of her friends.
An MoD spokesman declined to comment. It was not clear last night if disciplinary action would be taken against the Household Cavalry trooper.
- Since the publication of this article, we have been informed by the Squadron leader for Lance Corporal Mathew Cooney that Mr Cooney is still a serving soldier within the Household Cavalry and that all elements of the case were dropped against Mr Cooney.
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