Man ‘glassed in face’ over drink

Row after contents spilled in city bar

A MAN glassed a fellow reveller in the face following a dispute over a spilled drink in a city centre bar.

He was at the Peppermint bar in Wind Street, Swansea, in April last year when he struck a fellow clubber in the face while holding a glass.

Prosecutor Dyfed Thomas told Swansea Crown Court the victim felt a drink down his back while in the club in the early hours of the morning.

A MAN glassed a fellow reveller in the face following a dispute over a spilled drink in a city centre bar.

Adam Kenny was at the Peppermint bar in Wind Street, Swansea, in April last year when he struck a fellow clubber in the face while holding a glass.

Prosecutor Dyfed Thomas told Swansea Crown Court the victim felt a drink down his back while in the club in the early hours of the morning. “He believed it was the defendant, behind him, and that it was done intentionally,” he said.

“The defendant could not give a response. There was a protracted discussion about it and a friend came between them to calm matters down.

“The complainant was annoyed and there was some movement from the complainant to the defendant.

“But the defendant took it upon himself to hit the complainant, moving the glass from one hand to the other, and hit him with it to the head. There followed further blows.”

Door staff intervened and ejected the pair from the premises into the street where officers were attending another incident.

The injured party told police he had been glassed and he was taken to Morriston Hospital where he refused treatment. The court was told he had suffered two small lacerations to the side of his face – one 3cm in length, the other 1.5cm.

John Hipkin, mitigating, told the court Kenny, of Bryn Siriol, Llanelli, was a contracts manager within the water industry in South West Wales, as well as being a mature MSc mechanical engineering student, and that he provided for a young son.

He said Kenny had pleaded guilty at an early stage and added: “Clearly alcohol is a problem.”

But he said Kenny had successfully completed a course to address his issues with drink, to which he had self-referred.

The court was told Kenny, 29, who had previously been in the navy, had a previous conviction for resisting an officer and battery in 2010 and a warning for a public order offence in 2017.

Sentencing, Judge Huw Rees said: “You have an ability to resort to violence in drink with consequences to innocent people who happen to be out at the same time as you.

“When you are sober you are a perfectly reasonable, sensible young man.”

Kenny was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment, suspended for 12 months, and ordered to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work.

He must also pay his victim £1,000 in compensation and ordered to pay £420 costs.