Man jailed after injuring security guard in assault
A Scarborough man has been jailed for breaking a security guard’s jaw in two places after punching him so hard the victim had a seizure and suffered a brain haemorrhage.
Kieran Cassidy, 35, was causing a commotion at the Blue Dolphin Holiday Park near Filey which prompted two security guards, including the named victim, to step in and try to defuse the situation, York Crown Court heard.
When the victim told Cassidy to calm down, the bulky thugs wore at him and boasted about owning four caravans on the site, before punching the security officer with such force he was knocked out cold, fell straight to the ground and had a fit, said prosecutor Anne Richardson.
Cassidy then punched the victim’s colleague in the face and he too fell to the ground but was able to get back up and go to the aid of his workmate, who was taken to Hull Royal Infirmary after suffering “multiple” facial fractures, a broken jaw and able ed on the brain.
Both sides of his jaw were fractured and he also lost two teeth. He was taken into intensive care and had to be intubated due to loss of consciousness. He spent three days in hospital before being discharged.
Ms Richardson said the incident occurred at about 9.30pm on May 20 when the two security guards received a report of a man and a woman arguing in front of other holidaymakers.
They turned up at the scene in their security vehicle and saw Cassidy arguing with two women outside the holiday caravans.
Cassidy, of Swan Hill Road, was shouting “aggressively” and when the security guards approached him he told them to leave “in no uncertain terms".
Ms Richardson said the security guard stood between Cassidy and one of the women to try to defuse the situation but was then punched in the face after telling Cassidy to calm down. Police arrived on the scene at about 10.30 pm but Cassidy had already made off. He was brought in for questioning on June 8.
He was charged with causing the security guard grievous bodily harm and assaulting his colleague, as well as two counts of threatening behaviour against others and a separate alleged assault on a woman at the holiday park.
He admitted GBH and common assault against the other security guard but denied the other matters, two of which have been remitted to the magistrates’ court and one on which the prosecution offered no evidence.
Cassidy appeared for sentence on the substantive charges via video link on Wednesday October 19, after being remanded in custody.
In a statement read out in court, the victim, who hasn’t been able to work since the attack, said he had suffered from constant headaches, memory lapses, sleeping problems, whiplash and pain in his ribs and kidney.
Defence barrister Daniel Penman said Cassidy had serious health problems at the time of the incident at the Blue Dolphin camp which led to him drinking heavily.
Judge Sean Morris branded Cassidy’s behaviour a “disgraceful assault with terrible consequences for this poor [victim]” and slammed him for his “appalling record for thuggery and violence”. Cassidy was handed a 20-month jail sentence, of which he will serve half behind bars before being released on licence.