Man attacked as he called for help

Martin John Kent, who had not been in trouble before, repeatedly attacked Andrew White outside a Mexborough night club and broke his nose when he rained blows on him, even while he was phoning the police for help.

Mr White was a work colleague of Kent’s sister, Julie, at the Highways Agency and there had been problems at work. They had led to Mr White being disciplined but further details of the work colleagues’ differences were not divulged in open court, although the judge at Doncaster Crown Court was made aware of them in a written report.

Kent, aged 33, of Pym Road, Mexborough, was with his sister when they found themsleves in the same club as Mr White on the night of May 4 this year but there was no interaction between them, said Carl Fitch, prosecuting.

As Mr White left The Imperial club at 1am he felt a blow to the back of his head and was knocked to the ground. When he tried to get up he was punched a number of times.

Kent walked back into the club but as Mr White phoned the police the defendant quickly returned, knocked the phone out of his hand, and punched him another four or five times before walking away.

Mr White was taken to hospital and needed surgery.

Kent, who had no previous convictions, was arrested later and pleaded guilty to assault causing actual bodily harm

. Sentencing him, Judge Jacqueline Davies said there was “some background to this matter which I need not go into and that was the catalyst for this out of character incident.”

Because of his early guilty plea and previous good character Kent was told to complete 150 hours of unpaid work in the next 12 months. The judge made no order for compensation.