‘Suarez’ tattoo for bitten doorman
JON MACPHERSON
APUB doorman who was bitten by a reveller marked the incident by tattooing the words ‘ Suarez was here’ on his leg.
Nathan Walker, 24, was tackled to the ground by two door supervisors at The Broadway in Accrington when he tried to get back in to the pub after being thrown out.
Burnley Crown Court heard how during the ‘struggle’ on the floor one of the doormen was bitten on the leg by Walker who later threw a bottle at a wall causing a shard of glass to cut the same doorman.
Roger Brown, prosecuting, told the court that following the incident the victim had a tattoo placed around the bite wound with the words ‘ Suarez was here’.
The wording relates to former Liverpool player Luis Suarez who has been banned three times following biting incidents during football matches.
Walker, of Lee Street, Accrington, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and affray and given a 16-week jail term, suspended for 12 months and also given a sixmonth supervision requirement.
Mr Brown said the incident happened at around 11pm on November 22, 2013 at the town centre pub and the defendant was described as ‘displaying tell-tale signs of aggression, had an angry look, fists clenched and was getting very close’ to the victim.
The court heard how Walker was told to leave the pub by the doormen because it was thought he had “had too much to drink” and later got into an argument and a ‘struggle’ on the floor with the doormen after trying to re-enter the premises.
Walker then threw a bottle at the pub wall causing it to shatter and the doorman to be hit with a shard of glass which caused a ‘ severe cut’. Referring to the bite injury, Mr Brown told the court: “The doorman has actually had tattooed around it ‘Suarez was here’ so you may think that it wasn’t considered to be that serious or indeed that painful.
“It doesn’t appear the bottle was actually thrown at somebody but at the wall. When police arrested him he was very uncooperative, if not obstructive.”
Mark Stuart, defending, said Walker has responded well to probation supervision and that ‘he’s not particularly violent on his record as a whole’.
Judge Beverley Lunt said it was an ‘unusual offence of violence’ but it was ‘nasty nonetheless’. She said: “Fortunately for everybody concerned it was only minor injuries.”
THE victim of Nathan Walker’s bite said he believes his attacker should have been jailed.
The pub doorman at The Broadway in Accrington, who asked to remain anonymous, said he has been left with a permanent scar.
He told the Observer that after the incident he needed to have health tests which put a strain on his relationship with his partner. He said: “I’m actually scarred and it looks like a permanent bruise. I had the Suarez tattoo put on, even though I’m not a Liverpool fan, as shortly after that he was done for biting.
“I wanted to try and draw attention away from the actual bite mark so I had something put round it so people will mainly focus on the tattoo.”
The doorman said the aftermath of the incident was ‘very worrying’ and is angry that he was injured doing his job.
He said: “We are there to protect the public and not cause trouble.
“The sentence he got is not good. It’s a waste of time.”