A man who went to hospital complaining of toothache bit the arm of a policeman who was trying to help him and taunted the officer that he had a blood-borne disease, a court has heard.
Andrew Williams then defecated in his police cell and smeared the mess on the walls before writing his nickname, Spud, in the faeces.
Hannah George, prosecuting, told Swansea Crown Court that on July 12 last year 41-year-old Williams went to Neath Port Talbot Hospital complaining of toothache. When staff said they were unable to help him he went outside, took a large quantity of unknown tablets, and lay down in the middle of the road. When he refused to move the police were called.
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The court heard that Williams was arrested for a breach of the peace but the officer decided he needed to go to Morriston Hospital to be checked. However due to a lack of ambulances the PC drove him in his vehicle.
The prosecutor said that the defendant was "unresponsive" during the journey and on two occasions the officer stopped to check on his welfare but it became apparent Williams "was just ignoring him".
At the triage assessment unit in Morriston staff told the defendant he was not an emergency case at which point the defendant became aggressive and subjected the policeman who was escorting him back to the vehicle to a tirade of abuse.
Once in the vehicle Williams took his watch off and smashed it and grabbed a small sharp piece of metal from the broken timepiece. Fearing the defendant was about to self-harm the PC got into the back of the vehicle and a "struggle" ensued. It was at this point that Williams bit the PC on the hand and on the forearm and began laughing at him and goading by him telling him he had hepatitis C and threatening to bite him further.
The court heard the defendant was taken to Bridgend police station and once placed in a cell defecated before smearing the mess on the walls and writing his nickname in the faeces.
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In his subsequent interview Williams accepted defecating in the cell but said he had done it because he had been wrongly arrested and then not given any food but he denied biting the officer, saying his teeth had accidentally come into contact with the policeman.
The court heard that the officer had been wearing latex gloves so the teeth had not punctured the skin but the PC still took the precaution of seeking medical advice following the incident.
Andrew Darren Williams, formerly of Rectory Road in Neath but now of Maes yr Eglwys, Glynneath, admitted assaulting an emergency worker and criminal damage. He also pleaded guilty to a charge of failing to surrender to bail in relation to a court date which he failed to attend after apparently missing his bus from the Neath Valley. He has 32 previous convictions for 89 offences mainly involving theft and drugs matters. At the time of the assault and cell incident he had just completed a community order imposed for an earlier episode of defecating in a cell – this time in Swansea Central police station.
David Singh, for Williams, said it had to be accepted that whenever a bite was involved there was a risk of spreading disease though he said it was fortunate that on his occasion the skin had not been broken. The barrister said while his client was "no stranger to the courts" he now had a stable address in Glynneath which was "away from previous associates" and he was reconciled with his family.
Judge Paul Thomas QC told the defendant his behaviour on the day in question had been "appalling". He said he had intended to send Williams to prison for 12 weeks but given the length of time the defendant had spent subject to a qualifying electronically-monitored curfew – each day of which counts as a half-day of custody – if a sentence of immediate custody was imposed the effect would be the defendant's immediate release as he would have effectively served his time.
Judge Thomas said though it "goes against the grain" in a case involving an assault on a police officer in the circumstances he would impose a community order as recommended in the pre-sentence report. Williams was made the subject of a two-year community order with a rehabilitation course and will be subject to a 9pm to 6am curfew for the next three months. The judge said he hoped the order – which includes an element of mental heath treatment – would get the defendant to "behave like a responsible adult not a toddler".
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