Pair attacked and abused people in park after funeral

A COUPLE abused, assaulted, and spat at people in the street after attending a funeral, a court has heard.

At one stage during the brawl Jason King produced a claw hammer from his car while his partner Victoria Porter – a former criminology student – punched an 11-year-old girl in the face.

King went on to block the toilet in his police station cell and then defecate on the floor, while Porter refused to undergo a breath test before wetting herself in the testing room.

A judge told the pair he was constantly surprised by the number of incidences of violence at the tail end of weddings and funerals when “drink and family emotions come together”.

Swansea Crown Court heard that on the evening of June 6 this year a family of three were walking their dog in Ammanford when they walked past King’s car – without warning the defendant started shouting and swearing at them.

The father of the family told the defendant not to curse in front of his young daughter and at that point King’s partner Porter got out of the car and pushed the dad, telling him to leave her boyfriend alone.

The court heard the daughter of the dog-walking family stuck up for her dad, at which point Porter grabbed the 11-year-old and put her in a headlock before punching her in the face.

She then turned her attention to the girl’s mother, and gripped her by the throat. While this was going on King armed himself with a claw hammer from the car and walked towards the dad with the weapon.

The prosecutor said by now several female passers-by had stopped at the scene and King began abusing them before spitting in the face of one of the Good Samaritans, the spittle landing near her eye. At that point the father of the family approached King and was able to grab his hand and disarm him.

Police were soon on the scene and arrested the pair. In their car officers found a quantity of cannabis.

The pair were taken to Ammanford police station where King blocked the toilet in his cell before defecating on the floor, and Porter – who was described as having “glazed eyes and slurred speech” – refused to provide a specimen of breath of analysis before urinating in the testing room. In their subsequent interviews both defendants denied allegations of assault.

Jason King, aged 31, of Mathew Street in Swansea city centre, had previously pleaded guilty to possession of an offensive weapon, assault by beating, possession of cannabis, and criminal damage to the police cell when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He had also pleaded guilty to breaching a restraining order imposed in 2015 which bans him from entering the town of Ammanford.

King has 14 previous convictions for 23 offences including violence, possession of weapons, and public disorder matters.

Victoria Porter, aged 36, of Solva Road, Clase, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, two counts of assault by beating, and failing to provide a specimen for analysis when she appeared in the dock alongside her partner. She has no previous convictions.

Tom Scapens, for King, said the defendant had been in Ammanford in breach of a restraining order to attend his father’s funeral, and said while not an excuse for what happened the emotion of the day plus the excessive consumption of alcohol may help the court to contextualise the events of the day.

He said his client had been making good progress since receiving his last sentence – a suspended term of imprisonment in 2020 – but realised immediate custody was inevitable, as was the resulting loss of his flat.

Robin Rouch, for Porter, said it was clear from the contents of a pre-sentence report into his client that there was “genuine shame and remorse” on the part of the mother-of-five.

He said Porter had been studying criminology and doing voluntary work with offenders prior to the Covid pandemic but realised that by her “unforgiveable” behaviour in Ammanford the door to that hopedfor career had been firmly closed.

Judge Geraint Walters said it was hard to find words to describe what the couple had done on the day in question. He said he was constantly surprised by the number of incidences of violence at the tail end of weddings and funerals when “drink and family emotions come together”.

Judge Walters told King that given his antecedent record it would come as no surprise to him that there was little prospect of rehabilitation in his case, and that a custodial sentence was inevitable.

With discounts for his guilty pleas King was sentenced to 12 months in prison. He will serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community. The defendant was also ordered to pay £144 compensation to Dyfed-powys Police for the damage to their cell.

The judge told Porter that by her conviction she had lost her good name. He said she had come “very close” to immediate custody but in her case there was a realistic prospect of rehabilitation and therefore, under the imposition guidelines, the sentence could be properly suspended. Porter was sentenced to nine months in prison suspended for two years, and was banned from driving for 18 months.