"I'm not criticising you for sticking up for your wife – it's how you did it"

Monday 29 May 2023

A 39-year-old man has been sentenced to community service for headbutting another man who had been trying to dance with his wife at a nightclub – leaving the victim needing five stitches to his face.

The incident happened just before 03:00 on 7 May.

The Magistrate's Court heard this week that Bruno Miguel Freitas Vieira and his wife were on the dancefloor at The Royal Yacht Hotel when another man approached Vieira's wife. There was a brief scuffle between Vieira and the man.

The court was shown CCTV footage of a later encounter between the two, in which Vieira head-butted the other.

Crown Advocate Lauren Taylor, prosecuting, said: "The victim was bleeding quite profusely. He was taken to Accident and Emergency and needed five stitches to his eyebrow."

Vieira pleaded guilty to being disorderly on premises and grave and criminal assault. He was ordered to carry out 90 hours of community service for the first offence and fined £200 for the second.

Assistant Magistrate Peter Harris gave him credit it for his early guilty plea and lack of previous convictions.

He told him: "I accept that you felt there was some provocation that sparked your behaviour.

"I'm not criticising you for sticking up for your wife. It's how you did it. It was wholly out of proportion."