Kentish Express Ashford & District
Drunken man exposed himself to bystanders
An alcoholic has been ordered to clean up his act after he was filmed exposing himself and romping with a motorbike in front of shocked bystanders.
Kevin Chapman, 34, formerly of Ashford, had been released at 11am from St Martin’s Hospital in Canterbury on Monday, March 27 this year, where he had been receiving care for mental health issues.
But angry at being released after two weeks, he immedi- ately went to an off-licence and bought a two-litre bottle of cider, which he drank with paracetamol pills.
In the afternoon, he went into Canterbury city centre, where he got into a row with a group of homeless people near Fenwick department store, which escalated.
Chapman, a former landscape gardener, now of Longhill Avenue in Chatham, was arrested and charged, and appeared before Folkestone magistrates last week.
Prosecutor Neil Sweeney said Chapman kicked over a Suzuki GSF 600 belonging to Sam Llewellyn, before stamp- ing on it, trying to set it on fire and urinating on it.
The incident was captured on CCTV from the Fenwick store, where he was seen to expose his genitals to shocked bystanders.
Mr Sweeney added: “He continued shouting and swearing, exposing his penis and genitals to the people gathered. He then performed a simulated sex act.
“He was arrested and at interview he couldn’t remember what had happened but officers showed him the footage and he accepts it was him.
“The footage from Fenwick shows him mounting the motorbike. From the interview with officers he appears ashamed of himself.”
Niall Doherty, defending, said that Mr Chapman was intoxicated and was goaded into the shocking display by the homeless people and youths who had gathered to record the footage on their phones.
He said the behaviour stemmed from the breakdown of Chapman’s relationship with Stacey Holt-Souter a year earlier, who later formed a relationship with Russell Souter, who Chapman had worked with at a groundworks firm in Dymchurch.
Mr Doherty added: “He found out he was being pushed out of his family home and he took it very badly indeed. At that point he turned to alcohol to self medicate the pain he was feeling.”