Man jailed after string of offences including Victoria Gate casino assault and Ninja Warrior Leeds theft

Leeds Crown Court heard how 37-year-old Rafael Lovick committed a number of new offences while he was the subject of a 12-month community order imposed after he went on a drunken car-wrecking spree in the hours after a funeral. On that occasion in March 2020, he had damaged six cars, grabbed a taxi driver’s face as he made threats, and told police officers responding to the incident that he had Covid-19 and hoped their children would die from catching the virus.

Prosecutor Ella Embleton said that Lovick had been involved in a crash on October 1, 2021 and was standing beside a damaged white Fiat Ibiza when police arrived. His speech was slurred, his eyes were glazed and he smelled of alcohol, but he refused to take a breathalyser test. He told police that he had swerved in order to avoid another vehicle and then crashed as a result, thereby admitting that he had been driving while disqualified and without insurance. He refused to get into the police car and pushed an officer onto the bonnet when a scuffle began.

On January 1 last year, Lovick was approached by a security guard at the Victoria Gate Casino after falling asleep at a table. He was verbally abusive when asked to leave and went to the bar to try to buy a drink, swiping away a glass and smashing it on the floor. He was escorted to the door and said he would stab the security guard “20 times before you get a chance” when it was suggested that they could fetch a manager. When another staff member came over, Lovick lashed out and hit him in the chest.

The police were called and when they had to stop while en route to custody to check Lovick was properly restrained, he kicked one of the officers in the shin. He also refused to take part in a drug test when he arrived at the police station.

On January 13 this year, Lovick attended a party at Ninja Warrior Leeds. Afterwards, he took a number of branded headbands and socks that had been left out for guests at another party and also stole branded gloves from the reception area. The items stolen were worth a total of £38.

Lovick, of no fixed abode, came to the attention of the police again on April 3 this year when he was spotted riding a motorbike in Scott Hall Street, Leeds. He tried to ride off but crashed into a gate. Ms Embleton said he had pushed an officer while he was being arrested and was found to be in possession of cannabis. He refused to take part in a drug test when he arrived at the police station and refused to be interviewed.

Lovick, of no fixed address, admitted failing to provide a breath specimen for analysis, causing actual bodily harm, common assault, criminal damage, theft, possessing a class B drug, breaching a community order, two counts of failing to provide a specimen for drug testing and two counts of assaulting an emergency worker. He was convicted in his absence of driving while disqualified, driving without insurance, assaulting an emergency worker and resisting arrest.

His barrister, Glenn Parsons, said a lot of the offending had been “senseless and needless” and his client was “his own worst enemy”. He said Lovick had a “poor start in life” because his mother died when he was eight and his father was absent. He had also witnessed the murder of a friend who died in his arms.

Mr Parsons said it was perhaps not surprising that Lovick had become involved in petty crime and that his offending had escalated until 2008 when he was sentenced to 8.5 years in prison for conspiracy to commit robbery and handling stolen goods. Following his release from prison, he had not offended for seven years. He had begun to “pick up the pieces of his life” and found work landscaping gardens and renovating houses, as well has settling down and having a child.

The court heard that his relationship ran into difficulties when the pandemic began, he was isolated in a property on his own. He began to experience mental health issues and was drinking. When his conviction for damaging the cars and the aggressive behaviour towards the taxi driver and police officer in March 2020 became public, a number of customers cancelled their contracts. He lost his place to live and suffered from depression.

Mr Parsons said that had he committed any of the offences in isolation then it was likely that Lovick would have received fines, community orders or suspended sentences, but he recognised any sentence would have to reflect the cumulative effect of his recent offending. He added that none of his client’s offences involved serious violence, with his actions being limited to pushing, shoving, grabbing or holding people.

Judge Simon Phillips KC said he would not only have to sentence Lovick for the 15 new offences, but he would also have to revisit the sentence for the March 2020 offences as a result of his failure to comply with the community order previously issued. He said: “You were given a chance by the court to show, as you appear to have done in earlier years, that you can be law-abiding, that you can hold down a job and focus on your family life, as opposed to causing a thorough nuisance of yourself.”

The judge described Lovick’s recent behaviour offences as “loutish” and said the “thoroughly reprehensible” assaults on police offers showed an “utter disregard for the law or respect for others”. He sentenced him to 16 months in prison and banned him from driving for 44 months.