BEACH RAMPAGE BY DRUNK MAN
Victim ‘feared for life’ at his rage after being filmed driving:
AMAN who drove drunk onto a beach went on a violent rampage when he noticed he was being filmed.
Richard O’Neill was driving at speeds of up to 30mph on Black Rock Sands, near Porthmadog, which was full of holidaymakers.
When he noticed his actions were being recorded, he jumped from his vehicle, punched and bit a beach superintendent, attacked a woman and her husband and exposed himself.
One of his victims said in an impact statement read to Caernarfon crown court in Friday: “I believed this man was going to kill my husband and myself.
“My two daughters were swimming in the sea. I was worried if they came out and he continued to attack us”.
Prosecutor Brian Treadwell told the court some of the victims suffered the anxiety of waiting for test results to see whether they’d been infected with anything after being bitten.
Judge Timothy Petts told O’Neill, who appeared via videolink, that it was a “completely unnecessary display of drunken behaviour on a public beach where people were enjoying their summer holidays”.
He added: “When people tried to reason with you, you began to assault them, including biting and punching.
“You had to be restrained and when the beach superintendent arrived you bit him, causing scarring.”
The judge added that during his “rampage” he also kicked a dog hard.
O’Neill, of Lower Road in Coedpoeth, pleaded guilty to causing actual bodily harm and five common assaults, two of them against women.
He also admitted dangerous driving, drink-driving and indecent exposure.
As well as being jailed for 22 months and banned from driv- ing for four years and 11 months, the 39-year-old was placed on the sex offenders’ register for seven years for the July 25 incident. The court heard he had 13 previous convictions for 21 offences.
Ryan Rothwell, defending O’Neill, said the indecent exposure was out of character.
O’Neill was a fork lift truck driver who had worked for many years, and was “ashamed of what he has done”.