From the New Zealand Herald:
A New Zealand peace activist has been jailed in Britain for eight months for attacking a rock singer leaving him in a coma. Christiaan Briggs, who acted as a human shield in Iraq, admitted punching 19-year-old singer Billy Leeson following an argument on a late night bus. […] Briggs spent three weeks in Iraq with the Truth Justice Peace Human Shield Action Group in 2003 and was a former British Green Party candidate. […] According to court testimony, Leeson had been on a bus coming back from a sell-out London gig when his girlfriend complained that Briggs was staring at her. Leeson told Briggs to “look elsewhere” and, after they exchanged words, got off the bus in Camden. Briggs followed and as Leeson walked off, punched him on his left cheek. [..] The singer suffered a fractured skull and had to undergo a five-hour operation during which surgeons removed a piece of bone to lessen pressure on his brain. He was in hospital for six weeks and had to learn to walk again. According to the BBC website, Briggs’ defence counsel Bartholomew Cosella said Briggs was a “committed pacifist” who had devoted himself to “trying to make the world a better place”. [“NZer jailed for attacking British rock singer“]
Perhaps, the world would be a better place if Briggs had been put into a coma.