An offender has been handed a suspended sentence for assaulting a police officer and being drunk and disorderly.
Dean Anthony Whitehead spat on the officer but said it was because he had a mouthful of blood due to a tooth being knocked out.
High Bailiff Jayne Hughes sentenced the 35-year-old to 14 weeks in custody, suspended for two years.
A probation order, imposed in March 2022, was also discharged and replaced with a sentence of eight weeks custody, suspended for two years.
Whitehead was also banned from entering licensed premises, and purchasing or being sold alcohol for six months, and ordered to pay £250 in compensation to the police officer.
We previously reported that police were called to an address in Tramman Park in Anagh Coar on October 1.
The window in a front door at a property there was shattered, and Whitehead approached officers from a flat below.
He was described as slurring his words and smelling of alcohol, and told police he was concerned about the resident because they were not answering their phone.
After the occupant was found safe and well, Whitehead was asked to leave the scene.
However, he continued shouting and swearing, saying: ‘I’m allowed to be here.’
Police again told him to leave the scene but he was again verbally aggressive and stepped towards an officer.
He was given a final warning, which he did not heed, and he was subsequently arrested.
A struggle ensued, during which he was put on the ground as he kicked his legs and thrashed his arms.
Whitehead then spat upwards, towards police, with the spittle landing on a police woman’s trousers.
Sentencing had been delayed in the case while Whitehead was allowed to attend a rehabilitation facility in the UK for three months.
Defence advocate Ailish Hannan said that the length of the incident on October 1 had been very brief and Whitehead had initially got involved out of concern for his neighbour.
‘Clearly his behaviour deteriorated due to his consumption of alcohol,’ said the advocate.
Ms Hannan said that Whitehead had been drinking because he had been celebrating his acquittal in relation to another case.
The advocate said that the spit had been reckless and that Whitehead himself had lost a tooth and suffered a burst eardrum during the incident.
Ms Hannan said that her client had engaged positively during his rehabilitation in the UK and had been given a role of responsibility there.
The advocate added that Whitehead had secured a job as a labourer since returning to the island and was also considering returning to a bricklaying apprenticeship.
The High Bailiff told Whitehead: ‘Normally a person with your previous convictions, assaulting a police officer while subject to a probation order, would be looking at custody.
‘You are very much in the last chance saloon.’
Mrs Hughes said that she had taken into account the defendant’s time spent at the rehabilitation facility, that the offence was impulsive and over a relatively short period of time, and the fact that he now had a job, when deciding that there were grounds to suspend the sentence.
Whitehead was also ordered to pay £125 prosecution costs which he will pay, along with the compensation, at a rate of £10 per week.