A 34-YEAR-OLD has admitted punching a man in the head and threatening to set his dog on him.
Connor Tyson Joel Hansford also pleaded guilty to resisting arrest and possessing cannabis.
He was sentenced to 120 hours of community service, placed on probation for nine months and ordered to pay £1,100 in fines and compensation.
The Relief Magistrate, Sarah Fitz, said the offences could have resulted in a prison sentence, but she had decided not to jail him due to the “significant changes” he had made since the offences.
Legal adviser Francis Burak, prosecuting, told the Magistrate’s Court that Hansford had been walking his dog on the evening of 19 May last year when he encountered the other man in the street.
He threatened to set his dog on him and punched him, grabbed him by the throat and pushed him against a wall before punching him again.
The victim complained of throbbing and aches and was nervous about returning to the same area for a time afterwards, the court heard.
When the police arrested Hansford he resisted by trying to prevent them from handcuffing him and had to be taken to the ground to be handcuffed. He was found to be carrying a small amount of cannabis.
Advocate Darry Robinson, defending, said that although Hansford had pushed the victim and grabbed his neck he had not applied any pressure. “There was no strangulation in this case,” he said.
He explained that Hansford had been drinking heavily and using drugs since splitting from his partner but said: “He is now free from all substances, including cannabis and alcohol.”
The advocate added: “He is ashamed of what he’s done.”
The Relief Magistrate told Hansford: “This was very frightening for the victim, and you threatened to use your dog as an offensive weapon against him. In normal circumstances this would have attracted a prison sentence.”
But she accepted he had changed his life and said: “Please make the most of these changes and sustain them, and I hope not to see you back in this court again.”
She imposed the community service and probation orders for the assault and fined him £500 for resisting arrest and another £100 for possession of drugs.
Hansford was also ordered to pay the victim £500 in compensation.
