Unqualified martial arts teacher knocked out pupils

AN UNQUALIFIED martial arts instructor knocked pupils out by putting them in choke holds to teach them a lesson, a court heard.

Steven Grant, 29, admitted performing choke holds on the boys to teach them how dangerous the sport could be, however they both fell to the ground unconscious.

Judge Geraint Walters questioned how a martial arts enthusiast could set himself up as an instructor without passing examinations or gaining any qualifications.

Grant, who ran the Slicks martial arts club in Milford Haven, west Wales, admitted two offences of assault causing actual bodily harm.

Robin Rouch, prosecuting, told Swansea Crown Court that while an instructor could demonstrate choke holds, they should never be followed through.

Grant told the court that he had heard one of the boys talking about fighting another boy and was worried that he might use martial arts techniques.

To get his message across, he said, he showed them how dangerous that could be by grabbing their necks and cutting off the blood supply to their brains, knocking them out.

Grant, of Milford Haven, was handed a six-month jail sentence, suspended for two years.

He was also ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work for the community

‘Someone needs to look at how classes like this operate so the risk … is managed in a proper way’

and to complete 30 days of a rehabilitation activity.

Judge Walters said: “Someone needs to look at how classes like this operate so the risk of this sort of thing happening is managed in a proper way.

“It is unusual for a teacher to knock his pupils unconscious.”

He told Grant: “You were in a position of power and the parents of those boys put a great deal of trust in you.

“If an instructor does not qualify as an instructor, he will only be as good as he was as a pupil.”