Drunken thug glassed man in Leeds cocktail bar during table dispute
A drunken thug picked up his empty cocktail glass and smashed it over the head of a reveller in a bar following a brief argument.
Alex Kaye left his glass on an occupied table in the Power, Corruption and Lies bar on Call Lane, which sparked a disagreement, Leeds Crown Court heard.
The 25-year-old had been in the bar around midnight on March 18, but when he put the glass down, the victim asked Kaye to remove it and put it on the bar.
Kaye picked up the glass and following a brief remonstration, he smashed it into the man’s head, prosecutor Samuel Ponniah said.
The victim began throwing punches back and the door staff intervened. Passing police officers arrested Kaye. They found a small bag of cocaine on him, although he passed a drugs test. He was later given a conditional discharge for possession of Class A drugs.
He later told police he was very drunk and could remember very little, but conceded it was him when shown CCTV footage from the bar.
In a victim impact statement, the glassed man said he still has a scar running from his hairline to his ear and suffers from anxiety.
Kaye, of Church Lane, Buckinghamshire, has no previous convictions. He admitted a charge of actual bodily harm.
Mitigating, Anthony Sugare pointed to Kaye’s early guilty plea, and said he was “very remorseful”. He also said he had conducted voluntary work in Rhodesia, teaching English and sport to youngsters at a school.
Mr Sugare said Kaye had “acted completely out of character” that night and added: “He is remorseful today as he was then.”
Judge Richard Mansell KC described it as a “wholly unprovoked and gratuitous assault”. He said Kaye was lucky not to be facing the more serious charge of GBH and that the victim could easily have been blinded.
He gave him eight months’ jail, suspended for 12 months, ordered him to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work and pay the victim £1,000 compensation.