A man who was ordered to pay compensation after an attack had so much resentment towards the victim that he punched him again 13 years later. Graham Thomas assaulted Alun Pritchard in 2008, but when he saw Mr Pritchard in a Holyhead club in 2021, he targeted him again, telling him: "It's about money."
Caernarfon Crown Court heard on January 10 that Mr Pritchard needed 12 stitches to a cut on his forehead for the most recent incident and still has a scar. A judge called it a "nasty" wound and Thomas only pleaded guilty to unlawful and malicious wounding shortly before his trial in November 2022. At his sentencing hearing, the 66-year-old was jailed for 10 months, North Wales Live reports.
Prosecutor Anna Price said the men's children had been in relationships with each other but there had been a falling out. In 2008, Thomas punched Mr Pritchard several times on the back of the head. Thomas was convicted of assault for that incident.
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Ms Price said that, on December 9, 2021, both men had been in the Railway Club in Holyhead. At the end of the evening, Mr Pritchard, who had had six pints and was feeling "merry", went to the toilets.
Ms Price said: "Someone walked in and he realised it was Mr Thomas. Mr Pritchard said hello. The defendant responded by punching Mr Pritchard above the right eye. Mr Pritchard could instantly feel blood coming down his face."
There may have been a second punch but he was too "stunned" from the "unprovoked attack" to know for sure, the court heard.
She said: "The defendant said, 'it's about money', referring to compensation the defendant Thomas had to pay him (Mr Pritchard) after he (Thomas) had assaulted him years earlier."
Ms Price said Railway Club manager Sian Mullen was shocked to see Mr Pritchard "absolutely covered in blood" from the cut on his forehead. Ms Price said the victim told the manager: "I've a good mind to call the police."
The manager took the casualty to hospital in Holyhead but it was closed so they went to Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor. He was given 12 stitches for the wound and had also sustained a broken tooth in the assault.
The following day, police arrested Thomas, of Maes Yr Ysgol, Holyhead. He gave no comment answers to questions in an interview.
In a victim statement, Mr Pritchard said he was shocked by the incident as there had been "no hostility" that night. He is now wary of turning his back on people and has become withdrawn.
Simon Rogers, defending, said it had been a single blow in a "short-lived assault". He added: "Regrettably, the defendant saw the complainant in the toilets and lost his temper."
He said the men's children had been in relationships with each other and there had been a falling out. But there had been no difficulties between the men between 2008 and 2021.
Mr Rogers said his client bitterly regrets what happened in the toilets, adding: "He has put his family through hell over the last 12 months." He is a loving family man who became a tower of strength to relatives after the death of his grandson, aged eight weeks, while grieving himself, and who helped vulnerable people during the pandemic, the court heard.
But the judge, Recorder Wyn Lloyd Jones, told Thomas: "I find it very difficult to accept you are remorseful for what you did. It saddens me I have to sentence someone of your age for behaviour of this kind. The victim was Alun Pritchard. You had assaulted him in 2008. You had had to pay him compensation.
"What you did on this occasion was to attack him in the toilets of the Railway Club. I am perfectly satisfied that you still harboured resentment towards the victim - hence the words you used."
Jailing him for 10 months followed by 12 months of post-sentence supervision, the judge also imposed a four-year restraining order prohibiting Thomas from contacting Mr Pritchard or referring to him on social media.
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