Mansfield alcoholic 'assaulted resident after downing three-litre bottle of cider'

Michael Wayne Darwent has been staying in YMCA accommodation in Clifton Grove when the incident occurred on January 30, Mansfield Magistrates’ Court heard on Friday, February 14.

Prosecuting, Robert Carr said Darwent, 46, had approached the man while he was in the shared cooking area and told him to leave.

When the victim had refused and told him to “get lost”, Darwent had become verbally abusive, he said. Then, Darwent put a cardboard box outside the man’s room and told him to pack his things and get out.

And when the man retaliated by knocking the box down the stairs, Darwent headbutted him, giving him a split lip, he said.

Darwent, who admitted assault by beating when he appeared before the court, had since been moved to new accommodation in Kitchener Drive, Mansfield, by the YMCA.

Mitigating, Sonia Bhalla, said: “He had bought a three-litre bottle of cider for a friend, but when she didn’t want it he drank it himself. He was so upset by his actions that when he was at the police station he was sick.”

She added that Darwent, who is already subject to a community order, has written a letter of apology to his victim.

Magistrates issued a second community order to include 40 hours of unpaid work and ordered Darwent to pay £100 in compensation to his victim.