Unprovoked and thuggish assault on 13-year-old

A 24-year-old man who inflicted an '˜unprovoked and thuggish' attack on a 13-year-old boy has been told he must pay his victim £750 in compensation.

Stephen Anthony McEvoy, Thomas Street, Bessbrook, appeared in the dock last Thursday at Banbridge Magistrates Court.

He pleaded guilty to assault on a male occasioning actual bodily harm on a male on May 14 this year. A barrister representing McEvoy said his client, because of this offence, was in breach of a Crown Court combination order.

When the matter was returned to the Crown Court the defendant was re-sentenced and given an eight month prison sentence.

He had been in custody since July 29 and his release date was December 1.

A public prosecutor said that on May 14 police received a report from the mother of a 13-year-old boy that he had been the subject of an unwarranted attack while sitting on a bench in front of the Gilford Inn in Gilford.

The victim had received redness and a swelling to his face and had momentarily lost consciousness.

When police spoke to the defendant he denied hitting the child.

District Judge, Mr Paul Copeland, said this was a ‘gratuitous, unprovoked thuggish attack to a young fellow who was minding his own business in the street’.

The judge decided to defer sentencing until March 23 next year said that on that date he would be issuing a compensation order of £750.

He told McEvoy that he expected him to have that amount with him on March 23.