Alan Thomas Campbell was said to have drawn blood from a woman’s nose after biting her and placing his hand around her neck on two occasions to “shut her up” when she called him the C-word in the early hours of Sunday 26 February this year.
But the Magistrates Court was told that there was no attempt at strangulation and that the injuries to the victim’s nose could be put down to Mr Campbell’s “unusually jagged front tooth”.
The Court heard that both parties had been heavily drinking – 16 cans of lager and then a further eight between them – when a verbal fight broke out in which the victim’s name-calling was described as a “catalyst” for Campbell’s actions.
Advocate Dale, defending, told Assistant Magistrate Peter Harris that Campbell was “extremely shocked by his actions” and that the argument immediately ceased, with Mr Campbell later having made the victim a cigarette.
Nonetheless, he was later reported to the Police and charged with grave and criminal assault after having apparently “written his own indictment” during his subsequent Police interview.
While Campbell’s guilty plea and “candid” accounts of the night’s events and remorse were acknowledged by Assistant Magistrate Harris, he said that it was impossible to ignore his previous offences – an assault on the same victim and another on a neighbour in 2014 – and that a custodial punishment at the higher end of the sentencing scale seemed inevitable.
However, Advocate Dale said that he was ready to accept the Court’s orders for his own self betterment:
“He wants to prove to himself… and the Court that he’s able to live an alcohol-free and offending-free lifestyle… He feels confident that this time he can really turn his life around.”