Punch left off-duty PC with bleed on the brain
AMAN fractured an off-duty police officer’s skull with a single punch.
Patrick Thomas McCann had been out with his girlfriend at Rawtenstall Cricket Club on the evening of the August Bank Holiday last year.
Off-duty police officer Mark Lutkevitch had also been at the event, which was attended by a number of police officers, but was told to leave.
After they left the club McCann and his girlfriend went to a nearby takeaway where they bumped into Mr Lutkevitch who began to be abusive towards the couple, Preston Crown Court heard.
Prosecutor Mike Stephenson said: “There was a disagreement between the complainant and this defendant, Mr McCann’s girlfriend goes back inside the takeaway at which point the defendant steps outside, walks across to Mr Lutkevitch and strikes him with a single punch to the face.
“He goes down and is relatively quickly back up. At this point he is not interested in going to the hospital but after being at home for a short period of time he becomes unwell.
“He starts to vomit and is having difficulty with his balance. He is later admitted to hospital and has a serious injury; there is a bleed to the brain and a skull fracture.”
The court heard Mr Lutkevitch, a Rochdale PC, was later discharged from hospital but his condition worsened and he was readmitted to the high dependency unit at Bury’s Fairfield General Hospital for three or four days.
In a victim personal statement Mr Lutkevitch revealed he had lost his sense of smell and taste as a result of his head injury and was receiving physiotherapy to address his balance issues.
“I want the person responsible to understand this didn’t just change me initially but also since leaving hospital,” he said.
“My family have had to watch me struggling.”
Mr Lutkevitch, who received a Chief Constable’s commendation in 2010 for tackling a violent offender who was wielding a knife, is no longer able to work overtime as a result but has since returned to light duties.
Defence barrister Mark Stuart said McCann, of Pasturelands in Goodshaw, said Mr Lutkevitch had been “making a nuisance of himself” and had made unpleasant comments to McCann’s girlfriend in the takeaway.
“Mr McCann had no knowledge of the complainant before this night,” Mr Stuart said.
“He and his girlfriend, at the end of the night, ended up in the takeaway and the complainant came inside.
“It would have been far easier for the complainant to have left. The defendant’s girlfriend, who is in court, went and spoke to him and after that the defendant went outside and threw a punch.
“He is man of positive good character and he has never been in trouble before. He had gone out for a night out with his girlfriend to a respectable premises. Effectively the trouble had started, not with him, but elsewhere and this resulted in the complainant being ejected from the cricket club.
“The complainant, finding them in the takeaway, made further remarks to the defendant’s girlfriend.”
McCann, 30, pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm.
The judge, Recorder Ian Harris, told McCann he had “lost his temper” and caused serious injury with the single punch.
Judge Harris praised Mr Lutkevitch for the “sensible approach” in his victim personal statement, and added: “He has devoted his life to protecting the public.”
McCann was given a 20-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and given a ninemonth curfew between the hours of 9.30pm and 7am. He must also pay £2,000 in compensation to Mr Lutkevitch.