A man punched a teenage boy multiple times before going on to beat two other children in a separate drunken attack.
Craig Raine launched an attack on a boy who was under the age of 16 after he "lost it", and punched him in the face after dragging him and pinning him to the floor on March 23 this year. Three months later, the 40-year-old carried out a similar offence, this time beating two younger children on June 17 as they played in a garden.
On Friday, Raine, of County Durham, appeared at Durham Crown Court to be sentenced for wounding and two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. He pleaded guilty to the charges at a previous hearing.
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Barry Robson, prosecuting, said the first offence happened after Raine began "taunting" a teenage boy and "things got out of hand". Raine then pushed the boy before he "lost it" and began "dragging" the youth along the floor, causing him to "scream and shout". The teen was then pinned to the floor by Raine, who "punched him to the head around four or five times and hit him with a solar light to the head". The attack left the teen with a wound to his head which later had to be glued.
Raine was soon arrested and he "accepted responsibility for causing the injuries". He was then released under investigation, but on June 13, he once again became violent.
Mr Robson said two children were playing in a garden at around 10pm when Raine began "assaulting them". The court heard he "threw himself" at one of the children and pinned them to the floor and punched one in the face. Raine was said to be "staggering around and was clearly intoxicated" and caused minor injuries, the court heard. A witness to the incident then began punching Raine in order to prevent the attack from continuing. The court heard Raine had four previous convictions for seven offences, including threatening behaviour and criminal damage.
Lewis Kerr, defending, said Raine's best mitigation was his guilty plea and said he had shown "remorse for the serious offence" which was "entirely out of character". He said: "He is somebody who has lost control on multiple occasions when under the influence of alcohol. He has began working with drug and alcohol recovery teams. He has a problem with drinking and he has identified that."
Sentencing him, Judge James Adkin, said Raine carried out the offences for "reasons which defy explanation save for your intoxicated state". Raine was jailed for 21 months and a 10 year restraining order was imposed.
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