Angry Mansfield teen injured dad in row over e-cigarette

Justin Parker found the battery was missing from his bedroom when he returned home from work to his dad’s Argyle Street address at 3pm on April 16, said prosecutor Annelli Pritchard.

He challenged his father and inflicted a ‘nasty injury’ that required hospital treatment because of suspected concussion.

But Parker, who also put a ‘substantial dint’ in the boiler and knocked a hole in a door, received a black eye, the court heard, as there was ‘aggression on both sides’.

He has two previous convictions for four offences, Ms Pritchard added.

Parker was handed a referral order for assault, in 2018, and was put on a community order for two assaults and one count of actual bodily harm in December 2020.

Probation officer Raqia Bano said Parker has been prescribed antidepressants for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism.

He was taken into care aged nine and returned to live at his father’s address 12 months ago, but problems flared up.

He and his father have since reconciled, she told the court.

She described Parker as an ‘open, honest young man’ who works hard at an agency job. He has been sofa-surfing since the incident but Mansfield District Council have offered to help him with a bond for new accommodation.

"He doesn't expect everything to be done for him and makes every effort to sort things out," Ms Bano said. "It's to his credit that he is making a future for himself."

Neil Taylor, mitigating, said: “He has a complicated background and this is very much in the family. He is not heavily convicted.”

He asked the magistrates to consider making a conditional discharge.

Parker, 19, of no fixed address, admitted assault by beating and criminal damage when he appeared at Nottingham Magistrates Court, on Wednesday.

Magistrates revoked the existing order and imposed a new 12-month order, with 20 rehabilitation days.

They ordered him to pay £200 compensation, but waived court costs and the surcharge.

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