A man has pleaded guilty to leaving a mourner with a fractured jaw and broken shoulder in a violent confrontation which erupted after a funeral.
James Nicholson, 37, admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm on the 35-year-old victim, who claimed he was punched in the face twice. He had to undergo an operation and was hospitalised for two days, Hull Crown Court heard.
Tensions started rising when the victim said he wanted to return to a post-funeral gathering at the Goodfellowship Inn, in Hull, to raise a final toast to the man who had died. But he was told that only family were welcome, leaving him upset. Nicholson initially denied the accusations, but changed his plea to guilty after being told by the judge that he would not be jailed.
Jennifer Gatland, prosecuting, said the victim left the pub at around 8.30pm and went home. He drank five or six pints of Guinness and some vodka and orange, and spoke to several people, including Nicholson - who was at the time the boyfriend of a member of the grieving family.
Nicholson pictured outside Hull Crown Court (Katie Pugh)The court heard that the victim was an ex-boyfriend of the woman, according to Hull Live. Once home, he is said to have started thinking about the man who had died and decided that he wanted to return to raise a toast in his memory. He phoned and texted his ex-girlfriend to say that he was coming back, but she told him it was now just a family gathering and he was not invited.
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Ms Gatland said Nicholson made a video call to the victim and accused him of trying to cause trouble. He tried to explain that he was not trying to cause problems and invited Nicholson into his house to talk, the court heard. "The defendant replied that he did not want to go inside," added Ms Gatland.
The man turned slightly and opened the front gate to allow Nicholson in but, without warning, Nicholson punched him on the right side of his jaw, causing blood to flow from his mouth, the court was told. "The force of the punch caused him to buckle and fall on to the rubbish bins at the side of the gate," Ms Gatland said.
"As he fell down, he was punched again, this time on the left side of the face." Nicholson shouted "stay down" as the man tried to get to his feet, the court was told. Nicholson ran away and the victim managed to get inside his home and phone for an ambulance. He was taken to hospital, where he stayed for for two days after suffering two fractures to his jaw.
He had an operation to insert a metal plate. He also suffered a fractured right shoulder and cuts to his nose, forehead and above his left eyebrow. The victim was in significant pain and needed physiotherapy, the court heard. The injuries had also affected his work as an archaeologist because he could not do any digging.
Nicholson had convictions for nine previous offences, including assault in 2005, possessing an offensive weapon in 2006, motoring offences in 2011 and breaching court orders, the court heard. Oliver Shipley, mitigating, said the violent incident happened after a funeral for a member of the family of Nicholson's ex-girlfriend. She was also an ex-girlfriend of the victim.
Some injuries were caused to the victim, but Nicholson claimed that he pushed the man during the confrontation and did not punch him. The two versions would have been the subject of a trial until Nicholson changed his plea to guilty. No ruling was made in court on which of the two versions was accepted as correct.
"Alcohol was a factor in all of this," said Mr Shipley. Nicholson's previous convictions were some time ago when he was, by his own admission, "very young and very dumb" and the most recent was in 2011. He was handed a six-month conditional discharge.
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