Man tackles another after he "broke wind" on him...

Monday 01 April 2019

Continuous heckling after a member of a group of men "broke wind" on another man while he was sat at a table at the Ship & Crown led to him lashing out and injuring one of them just as they were trying to leave.

Now, Matthew Le Cras, 40, has been given a four month suspended prison sentence by the Magistrate's Court for injuring one of the group members when he lost his temper.

He was drinking in the Ship & Crown on the 7 December, before he confronted one of the group of men because of the 'wind' incident. 

He then moved away, but could hear the group heckling and joking about him for the remainder of their time in the pub - incidents which were slowly breaking down Le Cras' temper, the court heard.

So when one of the group 'gave him the finger' on their way out of the door, Le Cras snapped, ran toward the door and pushed one of them over. He then pushed that person's head into the door, hard enough that they had a lump on the back of their skull after the incident. 

Le Cras has two previous convictions where he was done for assault in 2003 and unlawful wounding in 2013, but Advocate Sam Steel said his client had turned a corner with alcohol since then, and when it came to this incident, Le Cras' actions were not drink fuelled, but rather driven by anger management problems. He had only drunk three gin and tonics on the night.

Advocate Steel pleaded with the court not to send his client to prison because he would lose his job - which was the only pillar of stability in his life. He said this would more harm than good for Le Cras: "he accepts no matter how provoked he was he shouldn't have done what he did". 

Judge Graeme McKerrell agreed, saying there was clearly provocation, but given Le Cras' record, he should have known to 'take a very deep breath'.

"You clearly have a temper and if it had been a punch on that night, you would have been going straight to prison, not passing go, and not collecting £200," Judge McKerrell said.

"But I am satisfied your desire to reform yourself is genuine. Had it not been for the good things that have been said about you, you would have been going to prison today, but you have played that card now. if you do anything similar again, you should rightly bring your bag to go through that door." 

Alongside the suspended sentence, which will last 18 months, Le Cras was also ordered to follow a supervision order with a probation officer.