Assaulted man in pub toilets after an exchange of words

Declan Babinski, 31, of Allez Street, St Peter Port, denied unlawfully and maliciously wounding the other male in the men’s toilets of The Britannia pub in Trinity Square.

Crown Advocate Fiona Russell said that CCTV from the bar, though not showing the key incident, was very useful in determining the sequence of events.

It was the prosecution case that the defendant was the attacker as the two men were the only people the toilets at the time.

The incident happened in March last year.

The complainant told the court how he got to the pub at about 3pm and had drunk six pints of lager before he was attacked at about 4.30pm.

He said he was drunk but not ‘smashed’ and could not recall speaking to the defendant before it happened.

He was using the urinal when he was suddenly pushed on the back of his head and his face hit the wall tiles, causing injury to his head, nose and upper lip. He recalled seeing blood all over the walls and basin but did not know who had attacked him until somebody told him later.

CCTV showed the complainant sitting on a stool at the bar when the defendant walked in and stood next to him.

Babinski said the defendant had been making noises at him and speaking in a Scottish accent even though he was not a Scot. In her witness statement, a woman said she heard the defendant tell him ‘not to poke the bear’.

Babinski went to the other end of the bar and sat at a table before going in to the toilets.

He came out and sat back down again. The complainant could then be seen on the footage going towards the toilet door, looking back and appearing to say something in Babinski’s direction before closing the door.

Babinski then got to his feet and despite another man’s attempt to stop him, followed him in to the toilets.

Babinski said that when he got in the toilets the other man had been facing him. When the other man pushed him and spat at him, he had grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him away.

Advocate Russell asked him how the other man could have suffered facial injuries if Babinski had pushed him backwards? He said he did not know.

He said he had gone in to the toilets to clarify what the complainant had said as he passed him on his way to the toilets.

Defending, Advocate Amy Davies said her client had been acting in self-defence. She said he had not mentioned being in fear but had told the court that he had reacted like he did to avoid getting pushed and spat at again.

Judge Gary Perry said conversations had clearly taken place though it was not clear what had been said.

Whatever had been said caused the defendant to almost leap from his chair and march in to the toilets behind the other man.

‘What I saw on CCTV did not show a man who was going to clarify a conversation,’ he said.

The judge rejected Babinski’s version of events which he said he must have made up afterwards in order to put him in a more favourable light.

He had struck some type of blow that had caused the other man’s injuries and he found him guilty of the offence.

He will be sentenced when a probation report has been prepared.

He was bailed in the interim with a condition not to contact the complainant either directly or indirectly.