‘Feud’ over a woman led to car park attack
A LONG-RUNNING “feud” over a woman between two men living in the same village led to a drunken assault in a pub car park.
Spencer Lloyd Lewis repeatedly punched Gerwyn Morris to the head outside a pub returning for a second go after his victim taunted him about the woman.
Mr Morris suffered a deep horseshoe-shaped laceration to the top of his head in the assault which needed stapling by medics in hospital.
Cardiff Crown Court heard violence erupted outside the Glancynon Inn in Hirwaun on December 1 last year.
Steven Donoghue, prosecuting, said the background to the incident was “some sort of feud over two years over a female” between Lewis and Mr Morris – the defendant’s then partner was a former girlfriend of Mr Morris.
The court heard both men were in the pub on the evening in question but “nothing untoward” had happened - indeed at one stage Lewis had approached Mr Morris and said they should try to put the issues between them to one side, and be on friendly terms.
However, when the victim left the bar at around 10.30pm he encountered 37-year-old Lewis in the car park.
Mr Donoghue said the defendant then launched an “unprovoked” attack on his intoxicated victim, punching him “numerous times” to the head and face.
Other people outside the pub intervened and stopped the assault, and Mr Morris began to walk away down Swansea Road. But then he turned to face his assailant and, in what the prosecutor called “an element of provocation”, made comments to Lewis about him having had the woman before he did.
With that Lewis launched a second assault, again repeatedly punching his victim to the head, and knocking him to the floor where he continued to rain down blows.
It was other people at the pub who stopped the attack.
The court heard that Lewis was subsequently arrested, and gave a “no comment “interview to officers.
Mr Donoghue said Mr Morris suffered “substantial injuries” in the assaults including bruising around his right eye, and wound to the top of his head.
Lewis, of Maescynon, Hirwaun, had previously pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. The court heard he has 10 previous convictions for 21 offences including for battery, disorderly behaviour, criminal damage, and thefts.
Alex Greenwood, for
Lewis, described the events outside the pub in December last year as “disgraceful conduct in a public place” which had left a “very unpleasant wound”.
He accepted the assault represented an escalation in offending for Lewis but said there had been no further incidents between the men in the seven months since the incident.
He said the defendant’s partner was now pregnant, and he had been offered work in the construction sector which would enable him to pay compensation to his victim.
Judge Nicola Jones said she was satisfied there was a realistic prospect of rehabilitation in Lewis’ case, and that he seemed motivated to address the issues in his life including alcohol abuse and anger management.
She also said she was mindful of the extra difficulties of serving a custodial sentence during the current coronavirus pandemic.
Giving the defendant a one-third discount for his guilty plea the judge sentenced him to 16 months in prison suspended for 18 months, and ordered him to complete 250 hours of unpaid work and a rehabilitation course.
Lewis must also pay his victim £1,000 in compensation along with £450 towards prosecution costs, and was made the subject of a restraining order banning him from contacting Mr Morris for the next two years.