Laurence Dollimore
SPANISH prosecutors are seeking a three-year prison sentence for a British soldier accused of slashing her fellow squaddie’s throat during a drunken bar fight in Mallorca.
Sydney Cole, 23, got into a scrap with her ‘best friend,’ Lance Corporal Sarah Garrity, 26, in Bananas nightclub on Magaluf’s Punta Ballena strip in 2019.
Ms Garrity, from Irvine, Ayrshire, was rushed to intensive care after losing four pints of blood during the incident, and required 14 stitches to her throat.
Cole was arrested on suspicion of attempted homicide, despite Ms Garrity insisting that she did not want to press charges.
Cole was detained in prison before being shortly released pending a further court appearance, which took place this week.
Cole, from London, told a judge in Palma in 2019 that a glass she threw on the floor broke and a shard pierced Garrity’s neck.
“It was an accident, Sarah and I were very drunk because we had been drinking since 11 on Monday morning but I didn’t want to cut her throat,” said Cole.
Suleiman, a worker in a nearby Kebab shop, told the Olive Press at the time: “It was horrific. There was blood everywhere. I could hardly bring myself to look. It was a huge gash, and quite a hole that wouldn’t stop bleeding.”
Cole was released by police after her friend decided not to press charges. Royal Logistics Corps clerk Garrity said: “I’m alive and that’s all that matters.”
But while the British Army investigated and decided not to take matters further – to the extent that the two soldiers reportedly went on parade together after the incident – the Spanish legal authorities have decided not to let the matter rest.
Cole will be questioned under oath before the Spanish court decides exactly what charges to indict her on, reports Ultima Hora.
