Soldier fined due to fight that induced personal injury
It has been revealed that a young soldier who punched a police officer and hurled abuse at a colleague whilst on a night out, has been fined.
Plymouth Magistrates Court heard that the squaddie was trying to help his injured friend.
The soldier was drunk, and insulted a constable and then hit a sergeant in the face, as he tried to restrain him during the late night incident.
As a result, District judge Nigel Hodkinson, ordered the 20-year-old to pay nearly £1,000 in fines, cost and personal injury compensation.
Hodkinson stated that he would not go to prison because of his ‘special job’, as he confessed early and because of his previous good character.
“If you were walking down the street in uniform and a drunken police officer punched you in the face I wonder whether you would want him to go to prison,” he stated.
The squaddie, of Corfe Avenue, Mannamead, admitted assaulting a policeman in the execution of his duty and threatening behaviour towards another officer on August 16.
The court heard that the solider would be dismissed from the Army if jailed or ordered to do community service preventing him from deploying with his unit to Oman in November.
Angela Furniss, prosecuting, said that the constable was attending to an injured man just off Union Street at about 1am. She furthered that the solider started insulting him and urging him to get his friend an ambulance.
Mrs Furniss said that the officer told him an ambulance had already been called and that he should calm down. She stated that the army worker said: “I am in the Army, I am going to hit you so hard.”
The court heard that the sergeant came over to restrain him. He grabbed one arm and one of the defendant's friends took another.
But Mrs Furniss said that the friend let go of the arm, but the defendant punched the sergeant in the face. He was left with personal injuries such as small cut to his mouth and a swollen lip.
Owen Lawton, for the squaddie, said that he faced punishment from the Army, at least an official letter of rebuke which would remain on his record.
He added that he could not remember parts of the incident but agreed that his behaviour was “not acceptable”.
Mr Lawton said that a prison sentence or a long community order would “wreck his career,” noting: “This is someone of positive good character. This matter was clearly out of character.”
The court fined the solider a total of £700, ordered to pay the sergeant £150, £85 prosecution costs and £15 victim surcharge.
Child’s death
In similar news, a solider has been sentenced to five years in jail, after he killed his 21-month-old stepson in a “sudden loss of temper,” the courts heard.
Stafford Court was told that the toddler died in hospital three days after suffering personal injury from brain wounds at his home in Shropshire in June 2007.
Medical experts later said that the victim must have been subjected to shaking or a traumatic event during the following 30 minutes, which had caused swelling and bleeding around his brain.
Defence QC Mark George stated: “The evidence in this case is that [he] was a good father to [the victim] – this is not a case where this little boy has been abused by a man who is not his father.
”[The child] died as a result of a sudden loss of temper by the defendant – who did not intend to cause really serious harm, let alone any injury causing the child to die.”
Updated on 10/09/2009