A 19-year-old who stamped on the head of a disabled man after downing 20 whiskies during a pub's £1-a-drink promotion in a British town was jailed for nine months last week after the magistrate said it was one of the worst such cases he had seen.
Conor Locke, from Ballygowan, left his disabled victim David Firth lying bleeding on a rain-soaked street.
Locke pleaded guilty at North Down Magistrate's Court to assaulting Firth occasioning him actual bodily harm.
CCTV footage of the attack was shown to the court which led District Judge Mark Hamill to comment: “The victim was minding his own business, he was obviously disabled, there was no provocation.
“This was gratuitous stranger on stranger violence. This is one of the worst examples of this kind of case that I have ever seen.”
A second teenager - George Brown, of Carrowreagh Gardens, Dundonald - also pleaded guilty to actual bodily harm but his case was adjourned until October 26 for pre-sentence reports.
The court heard that following a night out Locke, Brown, 19, and Brown's girlfriend were in Bangor around 1.25am on February 20 this year and were standing near the entrance of Bingham Mall on Main Street when the incident occurred.
David Firth - who the court heard has suffered from water on the brain since birth and has limited use of his right leg and arm - was walking past when Brown pushed him to the ground.
Locke stamped on Firth's head, causing it to bounce off the pavement, and then kicked him in the head.
The trio moved off, leaving Firth on the ground with a large gash to his head that was bleeding into his hair, but CCTV footage showed Brown returning to the scene to apparently help the injured man. A passer-by helped Brown get Firth onto a nearby bench, but Locke returned and started shouting at Brown.
Brown's girlfriend restrained Locke and the three left the scene. When Locke was arrested he told the police: “Go ahead, I defended my friend and if that's a crime I'm guilty.”
A defence lawyer said Locke “can't quite explain” the attack but said at one point there was an allegation that Firth “may have said something” to Brown's girlfriend. The lawyer said: “He (Locke) was considerably intoxicated, he would say that he had been out in Bangor and may have consumed up to 20 single measures of whiskey. There was a promotion on where if you pay £3 in, every drink thereafter is £1.”
The lawyer said Locke had brought £500 to the court for compensation and suggested he be given a suspended sentence or community service.
But District Judge Mark Hamill said: “I've always said that if you stamp on someone's head while they're on the ground, you are going to prison. Someone's going to get killed like that.”
Mr Hamill criticised the Public Prosecution Service for bringing the case to a magistrate's court where the maximum penalty is 12 months in jail rather than five years at Crown Court.
Jailing Locke for nine months, Mr Hamill said it would have been 11 months if Locke had not brought cash to court for compensation. - Community Telegraph