While the judge recognised Mr Brown’s stable employment history, his responsibilities to others and evidence of longstanding charitable work as relevant mitigating factors, he declined to issue a compensation order in favour of Mr Diaw.
Judge Baumgartner explained that unresolved questions surrounding the extent and cause of the knee injury, along with any lasting consequences, meant he lacked a “sufficiently secure evidential basis” to fairly calculate such an order within the sentencing process.
Mr Akinlolu, a 40-year-old rapper from Florida who served as Mr Brown’s vocal coach, also admitted affray and received a lighter punishment. The judge told him his sentence would sit “distinctly below” Mr Brown’s, reflecting his subordinate involvement, the absence of any weapon and the circumstances in which he initially became drawn into the incident.
Both men had originally been charged with assault and attempting to cause grievous bodily harm, but those allegations were abandoned after the pair entered their guilty pleas to the lesser offence of affray.