Soldier charged over 'slashing pal's throat' in Magaluf during night out

12 August 2023 , 13:37

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Victim Lance Corporal Sarah Garrity (left) was left in intensive care after allegedly being attacked by Sydney Cole (right) (Image: SOLARPIX.COM)

A British soldier has been charged over an alleged glass attack on her holiday friend in a Magaluf nightclub.

The April 15 2019 incident left Lance Corporal Sarah Garrity in intensive care after losing four pints of blood and needing 14 stitches to a neck wound. Squaddie Sydney Cole, 23, was arrested on suspicion of attempted homicide and remanded in prison in Majorca briefly before being released pending an ongoing investigation.

Cole has been accused of a crime of wounding in an indictment submitted to a court in Palma and is facing a three-year prison sentence if convicted at trial, reports island newspaper Ultima Hora.

Prosecutors in the Majorcan capital drafted their indictment despite Lance Corporal Garrity, 26, telling Spanish authorities early on in the investigation she didn’t want to press charges against her fellow soldier and renouncing her right to compensation. The trial date has not yet been made public but it is expected to take place before the end of the year.

Sydney Cole (pictured) could face three years in jail if convicted (SOLARPIX.COM)

The pair on a night out (SOLARPIX.COM)

The latest development in the long-running case comes 18 months after it emerged a Palma court had issued an international arrest warrant for Cole following failed attempts to inform her she was wanted for a new quiz under oath.

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It was not immediately clear today if the arrest warrant remained in place or Cole, based at Fort George Barracks in Inverness when she was arrested, had deactivated it by contacting court officials and making herself available for further questioning. The female squaddie was held for allegedly throwing a glass at her friend’s face after the pair rowed at Banana’s Nightclub in Magaluf following an all-day drinking session.

Victim Sarah Anne Garrity (SOLARPIX.COM)

Cole (middle) made friends with the victim while on holiday (SOLARPIX.COM)

She insisted after her arrest her holiday pal was hurt in an accident when she threw the glass on the floor during a fight with her and shards from it hit Sarah in the neck. The pair were sharing a hotel room with another squaddie friend called Deborah Ferguson.

Cole, who told police she and the injured woman fought after Sarah tried to intervene in a problem she was having with Ferguson, was remanded in custody for two days before her former lawyer Miguel Angel Ordinas got her released from prison.

Sarah, who was serving in the Royal Logistics Corps when she was critically injured, told Spanish police after her release from hospital she did not want to press charges. Mr Ordinas, in his last comments on the case in November 2020 before he handed over the files to a colleague, said state prosecutors had yet to indict Cole.

Cole was allowed to stay on the same base for another 11 months following the alleged incident, it has been reported (SOLARPIX.COM)

Ms Garrity is said to have asked prosecutors not to press charges (SOLARPIX.COM)

But well-placed legal sources in Majorca insisted at the time they believed a trial would take place and the case had simply been delayed by the coronavirus pandemic. One said: “Before state prosecutors indict her Cole has to be questioned again under oath.

“The problem has been that the coronavirus pandemic kicked in and it has to be done via videoconference and it’s been suspended on more than one occasion. No date has yet been set for the court quiz. It could be another month or two months away. But it will happen and it’s a simple bureaucratic formality that needs to precede the issuing of the indictment."

An Army spokesman told the Sunday People at the time: “An investigation is ongoing following an incident with a British soldier in Spain last year. We take our duty of care to personnel very seriously. It would be inappropriate to comment further.”

State prosecutors in Majorca have always declined to make any official comment on the case, as is normal in Spain where only trials are held in public and the judicial probe that precedes the open court hearing is carried out behind closed doors.

Gerard Couzens