Guilty, dad who hit yobs for urinating in his pond

A BUSINESSMAN who beat two youths he caught urinating in his pond full of prize-winning fish has been convicted of assault.

Father-of-four Richard Amy was angry the teenagers could have poisoned £40,000 worth of Japanese koi carp.

He grabbed a length of piping, whacked them across the buttocks and chased them off his property. But his spur-of-themoment action landed him in the dock.

Amy, 56, was woken by shouting and screaming coming from the garden of his home in St Lawrence, Jersey.

He stormed outside and saw the teenagers, aged 18 and 19, standing by the pond after urinating in it.

He hit one of the yobs on the buttocks, forearm and wrist, a court heard.

The other lout turned to flee and Amy hit him three times on the buttocks and back.

Both teenagers were treated for minor injuries at hospital.

One suffered a swollen other had a back injury.

Amy’s daughter had invited several friends to the family home and the teenagers later admitted urinating in the pond, Jersey magistrates were told.

Amy, who has run a building firm in the Channel Islands for 30 years, pleaded guilty to two charges of grave and criminal assault. Magistrates were told he was “utterly mortified” by what he had done.

Nina Benest, defending, said Amy had lost his temper after fearing for the lives of his fish. She told the court: “Any contamination wrist and the of the pond could have caused very serious consequences. It was something like a red mist coming down – he lost his temper.”

Amy was sentenced community service.

Assistant magistrate Peter Harris told Amy: “It’s very unfortunate that you have found yourself in this position.

“You have clearly accepted that your behaviour went far beyond what it should have done.

“It wasn’t something that you planned; it wasn’t a sustained assault and I accept there was a degree of provocation.”

Amy said outside court: “It’s happened and it’s something I want to forget about.

“Everything has been said.” to hours of