A man who was knocked to the ground and kicked unconscious last Boxing Day is to receive £700 criminal injury compensation from his attacker.
David Keating, 20, attacked Kenny Shawyer after claiming the two had bumped into each other earlier in the evening while in the same pub.
Exeter Crown Court heard that Mr Shawyer was punched and then kicked while on the ground.
Keating admitted the charges of causing actual bodily and was jailed for forty weeks, suspended for a year, and ordered to complete 120 hours of community work. He was also ordered to pay £340 court costs and £700 in compensation.
Keating was lucky not to go prison because of the incident, and arguably it was only Mr Shawyer, who said he did not want that to happen, which may have prevented it.
Judge John Neligan said: “You kicked him on the ground and he received a nasty injury which has left him anxious about going out.
“This was street violence at night in a small mid Devon town where it seems this sort of violence is becoming rather prevalent. It is up to the courts to see that doesn’t happen.
“You have a job and Mr Shawyer, with a good deal of Christianity, says that if you have a job he doesn’t want you to go to prison. Victims do not impose sentences, judges do, but the fact you have a job means you can pay compensation.”
Mr Shawyer required hospital treatment for his personal injuries.
