Booze-fuelled assault lands man in court

Published on 4th September 2008 in News

A drunken man attacked a woman after she told him to stop staring at her brother, a court was told.

Alan Coulthard (33) had been drinking heavily prior to the incident, which happened at the Charter Club on Pasture Road in Goole.

The town's magistrates heard that Mr Coulthard twice pushed a stool into the side of a chair the woman - who was named in court - was sitting on.

He then pushed the chair into the side of the woman herself, causing her to fall to the floor.

The woman then got up and hit Mr Coulthard on the jaw, at which he retaliated by delivering a blow to her body.

The woman's brother then rushed over from an adjoining room and rugby-tackled Mr Coulthard to the floor.

He was then ejected from the club.

Last Tuesday the unemployed bachelor appeared at Goole Magisatrates' Court where he pleaded guilty to assault by beating.

The incident happened on the evening of March 28 this year when, according to witnesses, the woman kept telling Mr Coulthard to stop 'eyeballing' her brother.

One witness said he noticed Mr Coulthard becoming agitated by the woman's persistent demands to stop staring at her brother.

He told the woman to shut up, but the woman carried on regardless and other men in the club told her to "stop going on about it," saying " He's not looking at your brother.".

At one point, when the woman said she would stop complaining if he " would just leave my brother alone," Mr Coulthard threatened to hit her.

The woman replied "I'm not scared of you," at which point Mr Coulthard picked up the chair and walked over to her.

Julie Laverack-Glanville, prosecuting, said the woman later went to hospital but suffered only a soft-tissue injury to her thumb.

While being quizzed by police, Mr Coulthard told them he had drunk about 10 pints that evening.

He also claimed that, after he pushed the woman off the chair, he was kicked and punched by up to five people as he lay on the floor.

Nick Clay, defending, said Mr Coulthard was having a drink on his own and was simply looking around the room, not staring at the woman's brother as she had claimed.

He added that Mr Coulthard, who was "unsteady on his feet and obviously drunk", admitted pushing the woman off the chair with a stool but said that the ensuing scuffle occurred after she hit him.

Mr Coulthard, of Pasture Road, Goole, was given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £55 costs.