Violent thugs who kicked and punched a city centre doorman because he told one of them not to take a glass outside have walked free from court.
The security worker was on the door of a pub in Newcastle when he saw Sam Bird come out with a glass in his hand. He told him that he was not allowed to be outside with the glass but Bird refused to comply and hit him.
Newcastle Crown Court heard the bouncer hit him back but was then subjected to a prolonged attack in which he was repeatedly punched and kicked on the ground by Bird and his friend, Joseph Calboutin, who joined in. Now the pair have both been spared prison for assault.
Read more: Northumberland cocaine dealer who made almost £200,000 from selling drugs must pay back £2,500
It was on October 2021 that the victim was working as a doorman at The Telegraph pub, on Forth Street, in Newcastle. Around 8.20pm, Bird went outside and was told by the security worker he not he was not allowed to be outside with a glass.
He refused to go back inside with it and the doorman went to take the glass off him and was punched in the face by Bird. Rachel Glover, prosecuting, said: "He punched him back in self-defence but Mr Bird then punched him several more times until he fell to the floor.
"While he was on the floor he continued to be punched and kicked several times by Mr Bird and also Mr Calboutin, who had joined his friend outside. CCTV shows the defendants repeatedly kicking, punching and dragging him on the floor."
The pub manager went out and she was caught in the side of the head by a blow from one of the attackers as they attacked the doorman. Miss Glover said that Bird and Calboutin then walked off, adding: "They were seen to look back at what had happened and laughing."
The victim suffered a broken nose and damage to his septum, as well as bruising and soreness. In a victim impact statement taken the day after he was attacked, he said: "I'm shocked this level of violence has happened while I was just trying to do my job. My family, including my children, are in fear at me returning to work."
Some 14 months later, he added: "I was punched and kicked by two men and suffered a broken nose. It's been more than a year since the assault and I've suffered ongoing breathing difficulties with my nose and pain in my jaw.
"This incident has caused unwanted suffering and stress and has impacted on my family life. I've been in fear of the men returning to my place of work and causing further harm."
Bird, 22, of Lazonby Way, Westerhope, Newcastle, who has no previous convictions and Calboutin, 25, of Jesmond Three Sixty, Jesmond, who has one previous conviction for battery, both admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm and were each sentenced to three months suspended for 12 months and must pay the victim £1,000 compensation each.
Recorder Alistair MacDonald KC told them: "It's important you realise how close you have come to losing your liberty today. The courts simply won't tolerate violence of this sort."
Jamie Adams, representing both, said: "This was an unpleasant event and there can be no denying that. Mr Bird was clearly at fault for not yielding the glass he had take out when asked to. That's what caused the incident to start when he struck out, even if he did think he had been spoken to in a severe way.
"Mr Calboutin thought his friend was being attacked. But he went too far and it's quite wrong." Mr Adams said both men are "highly thought of" and Calboutin wants to join the fire service and has been working as a personal trainer.
Read next:
- South Tyneside businessman threatened and ordered to sack staff in blackmail plot
- High risk child sex offender sent back to prison for offences in Newcastle days after being released
- Wallsend former physio's child abuse images stash included baby being abused
- Killingworth pervert's secretly shot footage of children and woman found by horrified ex
- Halloween horror: Cowardly brute strangled partner and stamped on her in terrifying Blyth attack
