A “highly skilled” former Marine with post-traumatic stress disorder assaulted a 16-year-old boy with a martial arts move because he thought he was being a nuisance outside his flat in Cardiff. Veteran Grant Wallis unleashed the move on the helpless schoolboy outside the defendant's home at Cwrt Ffordd Nowell in Penylan.
Bethan Evans, prosecuting, told a sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court on Thursday how on May 4 last year two teenage friends were playing around 10m from 44-year-old Wallis’ home when he became angry. Bizarrely Wallis began by opening his window and shouting at the two boys: “I love you guys.”
But Wallis’ tone then changed and he said: “F*** it, I am going to kill you guys.” The two boys later told police Wallis was clearly off balance and intoxicated during the episode which turned violent.
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The court heard how Wallis exited the building and began walking towards the boys asking: “Do you know who I am?” He focused on the 16-year-old boy and blocked his path before raising his right hand, straightening his fingers, and performing a “slashing” motion.
Ms Evans told the court how Wallis then began pressing his index fingers into the boy’s throat. The boy told police he knew this move to be the “spear finger” – a martial arts move which he knew could cause “a lot of damage”.
A “wrestle” ensued with Wallis then subjecting the boy to a “chokehold” before the boy broke free. Wallis was angered again when the boy reached for his phone. The incident finally came to an end when two neighbours realised what was happening and shouted at Wallis: “They are children.”
The boys left the scene and told their parents what had happened and they then called the police. In a victim impact statement read out in court the boy who was assaulted by Wallis said: “Before it I was a confident, bubbly character but now I have lost a lot of confidence in myself. I have become anxious and very jumpy in new situations. I hate being on my own in the house and when I am on my own I turn the lights on. I struggle in school because I keep thinking again and again about what happened to me.”
The boy’s mother attended the hearing on Thursday and read out a statement herself in the witness box. She eloquently asked for the court to “help” the defendant in order to protect others.
“When my son goes out with friends or to school I am worried about him," she said. "I need to know where he is all the time. He is 16 and should be able to go out on his own without me having these concerns but I just can’t help my feelings.
“I was not there when the attack happened and I feel I need to be there to protect him in case something like this happens again. If the defendant has PTSD then he needs help.”
Wallis admitted a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. The defendant, who told the court he has moved to the Cotswolds, has two previous convictions for two offences including battery in August 2021 when he put a woman he knew in a headlock. Hannah Friedman, for Wallis, said: “He accepts the full facts in the prosecution’s case. His PTSD did contribute to his actions that day. He does feel remorse, particularly to the victim in this case. Something he has echoed again to me today is: ‘Can you apologise on my behalf?’ He is disappointed in himself that he has made someone feel this way.”
Ms Friedman said immediately after the incident last year he contacted the NHS about his PTSD. She added that he now attends a “veteran-friendly GP” near to his new home.
Sentencing, Judge Jeremy Jenkins told the defendant in the dock that two children had simply been playing close to his home prior to the incident. "Inevitably they were making a little noise and you took umbrage at what they were doing. It was a gross overreaction. They were not causing any harm, nuisance, or difficulty. You overreacted, you shouted at them, and you issued threats and personal abuse.
"You took hold of [the victim] and said you were going to kill him. You put your fingers into his throat before locking him into a chokehold. It must have been extremely frightening for that young boy seeing a grown man behave in that way.
"You were a skilled, trained member of the armed forces – the Royal Marines no less. The way in which you behaved was something no doubt you were trained to do. You are lucky the injuries you caused were not serious and not long felt but the psychological impact of what you did is still felt.
"It had with it an element of sadistic bullying. You taunted him and you called him names. You intended to belittle him in any which way you could. You are undoubtedly suffering from PTSD. You were a Royal Marine and you have seen active service in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Northern Ireland. You have served with distinction, gaining three promotions within that organisation. But this was shameful and it is not the first time you have overreacted in this way.”
Wallis received a 12-month community order including 150 hours of unpaid work. He must also attend a 10-day rehabilitation course and pay £1,500 in prosecution costs at a rate of £100 a month. After that he must pay a court surcharge. He also received a five-year restraining order preventing him from approaching or contacting the boy.
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