Thug broke man’s jaw with a single punch
ATHUG broke a man’s jaw with a single punch after a wedding celebration because he mistakenly thought he had jumped the queue for a taxi, a court has heard.
Dylan Culshaw, of Willows Lane, Accrington, was sentenced at Preston Crown Court after earlier pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm.
Prosecuting, Paul Cummings told the court that on the evening of March 9 this year, Culshaw, 20, had been attending a wedding reception at the Bowland Brew- ery complex in Clitheroe, as had the injured man, Adrian Race.
Mr Cummings said: “Mr Race and his girlfriend arrived at around 6.30pm and enjoyed an enjoyable and uneventful evening.
“At around 12.30am they left the function in order to get a pre-booked taxi.
“From around 20 to 30 feet away from him the defendant ran across the road and punched him in the face leaving him dazed and confused.”
CCTV footage from the area showed that the victim had his hands in his pockets immediately prior to the attack.
Mr Cummings added that Mr Race then went home but at 3.10am visited hospital as his face had swelled up. It transpired that the punch had broken his jaw. He later had to have an operation under general anaesthetic to insert a metal plate to treat the injury.
Mr Cummings said that although the fracture had healed Mr Race still suffered from numbness in the jaw area and pain when exercising or lifting.
Defending, Anthony Parkinson said his client was ‘genuinely remorseful’ and had a lack of recent previous convictions.
He said that his client was in employment, working as a roofer for his uncle.
He added that Culshaw had been putting money aside since the incident in the hope of paying compensation to his victim.
His Honour Judge Elliott Knopf told Culshaw that he had ‘attacked someone with his hands in his pockets who offered no threat to you’.
He added the attack was for no valid reason other than a mistaken belief that he was jumping the taxi queue.
Culshaw was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for a year, and ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work for the community. He was ordered to pay £700 in compensation and a £500 contribution to prosecution costs within 28 days.