A prolific offender hospitalised a teenage boy who had been 'following' him, a court heard.
Lee O'Shea hit the 15-year-old boy in the head with a "stick" or "bar", prosecution barrister Zahra Baqri told Bolton Crown Court. O'Shea, who was aged 31 at the time of the assault, then carried on hitting the victim after he curled into a ball to protect himself.
He has now been jailed for more than two years after admitting to the attack and a number of other offences between April 2019 and May of this year.
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Ms Baqri said that the victim "rightly or wrongly" believed that O'Shea, of Wigan, had burgled his grandma's house. Along with a group of friends, he then followed O'Shea.
After noticing them, O'Shea chased after the group and shouted: "I’m going to get you. I’m going to kill you."
The 15-year-old ran to a nearby house for help but no one answered and O'Shea then started to attack him, Ms Baqri said. After hitting the boy to the forehead, he then rained further blows down upon his arm and shoulder.
O'Shea eventually left the scene and the boy went home, before being taken to hospital. He suffered bruising to his body and a lump to his forehead.
While on bail, O'Shea, of Wigan Lane, stole lead from the roof of Ashton Library, in Makerfield on March 20 2020. He then went on to make off from cops in a stolen Audi A3 last month, on May 3.
O'Shea, who has 30 convictions for 61 offences, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, theft, driving a vehicle taken without consent, driving without insurance, and driving while disqualified.
Defending, Oliver Saddington told the court that "drugs and alcohol have played a significant part" in O'Shea's life but said that he is "trying to clean himself up". He added that the victim in the assault originally made the decision to follow O'Shea, despite seeing that he was armed.
The Honorary Recorder of Bolton Judge Martin Walsh sentenced O'Shea, now aged 35, to 26 months imprisonment. O'Shea was also banned from driving for four years.
