A LLANDYSUL MAN who assaulted an off-duty door supervisor after repeatedly kicking a bin was ordered to carry out unpaid work by magistrates in Llanelli on last Thursday (May 26).
Oliver Evans, 23, of Haulwen, Cross Inn, pleaded guilty to one charge of assault.
Prosecuting, Vaughan Pritchard Jones told the court that on March 12 at around 9.30pm, Evans had walked in to the Three Compasses pub in Newcastle Emlyn.
The complainant, who has experience as a doorman, was in the pub drinking coffee with the landlady.
Recognising that Evans was on Pubwatch, he asked him to leave. Evans did so, but was verbally abusive on the way out.
Around 40 minutes later, Evans returned, asking to use the phone to contact a family member to pic him up. However, the phone conversation ended in an argument, and Evans left the pub again.
Shortly after this, a banging noise was heard coming from outside. The complainant investigated, and found Evans kicking a dustbin around the street. Evans then noticed the complainant, and asked what he was looking at.
In a statement to the police, the complainant said that as a result of his door work experience, he took a ‘nonconfrontational approach’ and stood in the doorway of the pub. Evans then approached him and punched him in the face.
The complainant told police that he then held his hands out to indicate that he was not going to retaliate, but Evans continued to attack him, hitting him in the eye and left cheek five times.
After waiting for Evans, who was described as ‘drunk’ and ‘staggering’ to run out of breath, the victim told him to leave, which he did, kicking the bin.
The court heard that no visible injuries were caused by the assault, but that the victim had suffered from soreness in one side of his face for several days.
In a victim statement, the complainant said: “I am worried that if he [Evans] gets away with things like this he will do them again.”
Defending, David Elvy acknowledged that Evans had a number of previous criminal convictions, which were mostly related to alcohol and drugs, but that he had ‘put his house in order’ over the last year, and had been running his own business.
However, a long period of illness had left him unable to work, leading to stress and family difficulties, which Mr Elvy said had been largely responsible for this ‘relapse’.
“He went to the pub to make a phone call, and the argument was the spark which led him to take out his frustration on the bin,” he added.
“He fully accepts that this was an unprovoked attack, and wishes to apologise to the victim.”
A report from the probation service said that Evans had turned to alcohol due to personal difficulties but suggested that any intervention from the probation service was unnecessary.
Evans was given a community order consisting of 120 hours of unpaid work. He was also ordered to pay £50 compensation to the complainant and costs and victim surcharge totalling £145.
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