A rowdy man who got drunk at a birthday party was arrested after he carried his four-year-old nephew into the path of a police van and racially abused an officer. Daniel Jones from Cardiff had downed seven pints of beer and an array of shots before launching an unprovoked attack on police while carelessly carrying the young boy in his arms.
Declan McSorley, mitigating, said Jones had attended his sister's 30th birthday party at Llanishen rugby club on October 7 last year and drank more than on any other occasion in the past five years. The solicitor told Cardiff Magistrates' Court that the party had a 'constant flow of cheap shots' and that the 28-year-old engaged in freely drinking Sambuca and other 'coloured drinks', Wales Online reports.
Police had attended Ty-Glas Avenue after reports of youths smoking cannabis in the venue's car park and tried to leave after dealing with the issue. However, Jones stepped in front of their van while holding his young nephew and launched a tirade of racial abuse at an officer with a 'blatant disregard for the child's safety'.
PC Zakari Hussain said: "He recklessly walked in front of the police van and I believe he knew I was trying to leave. A female was shouting and arguing with him."
Officers warned Jones to back down but he told them to 'f*** off' with the four-year-old still in his arms. The offender continued to shout abuse and resisted as officers tried to arrest him.
They eventually managed to cuff Jones who called PC Hussain a 'p***' and the n-word as he told him: "If you take these cuffs off I will f*** you up." Mr McSorley argued his intoxicated client had been 'playing aeroplanes' with his nephew and had not realised he was in the path of a police van.
The solicitor added: "His sister is the female the officers describe. She was trying to get Mr Jones to hand over his nephew and also calm him down so police didn't arrest him.
"She was displaying an infinitely greater level of common sense than he was." The solicitor said Jones tried to apologise to police once he was sober. The defendant had seven previous offences on his record but had not been in a court since 2017 and previously changed his life by moving to a new area and 'dissolving' a friendship group which was 'anti authoritarian and pro-drugs".
Mr McSorley told the court how his client now rarely drinks and also suffers from ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and anxiety. He lives with his mother and is 'in effect a carer' for his brother who has an even more serious form of ADHD.
Jones, of Whitworth Square in Whitchurch, admitted a racially aggravated disorder offence, resisting an officer, and drunk and disorderly behaviour. The court heard he receives around £689 a month and pays his mum £200 of that for rent.
The hearing was adjourned to a later date and Jones received a 12-week jail term suspended for 12 months. He was also ordered to pay a £154 victim services surcharge and £85.30 in prosecution costs.
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