A 64-YEAR-OLD man has admitted hitting a woman in the face – but claimed ‘voices in his head’ told him to do it.
In the Magistrate’s Court, Alan Neville Bellot admitted assaulting the woman on the afternoon of 17 July.
Advocate Sophie Lister, prosecuting, told the court that Bellot had been drinking earlier that day in a pub in Gorey, despite being on medication that was not meant to be taken with alcohol.
The victim saw him urinating in her garden in the afternoon, and when she complained he assaulted her by hitting her on the left-hand side of the face.
Advocate Lister added: ‘She said: “I think it was a slap but it was a very hard one. My ear was ringing.”’
Photos showed reddening to her ear and left cheek.
When the police arrived, Bellot seemed ‘confused and disorientated’, the court heard.
Advocate Lister added: ‘He said he hadn’t intended to hurt her. He said he heard voices in his head and they were telling him to do it.’
She asked the court to impose a restraining order, saying: ‘This is a woman who is frightened of the defendant, not just for herself but for her daughter.’
However, Bellot had no previous convictions and had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity. He had been in custody since his arrest and Assistant Magistrate Peter Harris said: ‘I would not want to keep you in custody any longer. You have never been in court before.’
Bellot was bound over to be of good behaviour for six weeks.
