Antrim man attacked person he blamed for his dog being taken away by warden
A man attacked a person he blamed for his dog being 'confiscated' by a dog warden, a court was told.
Details were given to Antrim Magistrates Court, sitting in Ballymena, on Tuesday where Christopher McGregor (23), with an address given as Barra Street in Antrim town, admitted assaulting a male on April 8 this year and also the next day. The defendant appeared at court via video link from prison.
The court heard that around 4pm on April 8 the defendant sent a text to the male "attempting to arrange a fight" because, according to a prosecutor, the defendant had blamed the male "for his dog being confiscated by the dog warden".
The defendant met the male in the Townparks area of Antrim and forced him to the ground, punching him multiple times to the head leaving him bruised to the eye. The fight was broken up by the defendant's mother.
McGregor contacted the male again, inviting him up to his house, and again assaulted him, punching him multiple times and headbutted him leaving him with a bloodied nose and bumps and bruises to the head. The defendant had a record.
McGregor had also been accused, on April 9, of possessing a 'boiled kettle' as an offensive weapon with intent to commit grievous bodily harm; assaulting a woman; 'threatening or abusive' behaviour; making a threat to damage property; and attempted criminal damage to a car dashboard but those charges were withdrawn by prosecutors.
Regarding assaulting the male a defence barrister said the defendant accepts he had "acted over and above what he should have done".
District Judge Nigel Broderick said they had been "nasty assaults". He said one assault was bad enough but the aggravating feature was that he assaulted the male the next day and jailed McGregor for four months.