Police officer is kicked in groin by defendant

He was Stephen Woods, Garrymore, Craigavon, and he appeared last Friday at the local magistrates court.

For the assault on the officer he was sentenced to four months in prison, suspended for 12 months, and ordered to pay him £400 compensation.

Concurrent three month suspended terms were imposed for disorderly behaviour and resisting police.

The case had been adjourned from a previous court so that a pre-sentence report could be obtained.

The court heard that on October 27 in William Street, Lurgan, Woods was standing in the middle of the road blocking traffic.

He was told to move on but started to swear at police. He was unsteady on his feet, stumbled and was narrowly missed by a passing car.

When he was moved off the road by police he became aggressive and was warned about his behaviour, He kicked out at an officer, hitting him in the groin.

His solicitor said he had shown remorse and was keen to nip this sort of behaviour in the bud.

He explained that Woods had been at a christening and had been drinking heavily all day. He regretted his actions and wanted to put this behind him.

It was clearly a case of someone taking too much alcohol and things got steadily worse, added the solicitor.

District Judge, Mr Mervyn Bates, said he was concerned that this was the defendant’s second offence of a similar nature, previously for disorderly behaviour, and the pre-sentence report indicated his propensity to drink to excess.