A police officer was left with bite marks following an alleged assault in which a man is said to have headbutted and spat at police while being arrested.
Alexander Pierce Cassells, aged 33 with no fixed abode, was refused bail at a sitting of Dungannon Magistrates Court on Wednesday following his arrest for the incident on Monday of this week.
He is charged with assault on police, resisting police, disorderly behaviour and assault occasioning actual bodily harm following the incident in Dromore.
READ MORE: Cost of living: Co Tyrone mum on her heartbreak as she can’t afford heating for daughter
Constable Donnelly said she could connect the accused to the charges. The court heard that police had received a call of a disturbance at a pub on Main Street in the Co Tyrone village at around 8pm.
Police say they located Cassells a short time later in the Fairview Gardens area, where he was ‘shouting in the streets’ and attempted to arrest him in connection with the earlier incident.
They say that Cassells then began to act in an aggressive fashion and kicked one officer in the head on two occasions while he was on the ground.
He is alleged to have headbutted the same officer and was subsequently arrested. The defendant was then being taken to the South West Acute Hospital in Enniskillen, but the police vehicle had to be stopped as he ‘attempted to headbutt’ another officer.
Upon arrival at the hospital, the defendant is alleged to have spat at a police officer, which police said made contact with the officer’s left cheek.
One officer required medical treatment on the night of the incident, for concussion and for bite wounds on their forearm. The officer was unable to carry out their duties for the remainder of the night according to the constable.
A defence solicitor for Cassells made a bail application on his behalf, which was opposed by the constable as she said he had a history of breaching bail conditions.
The judge refused bail, saying that the defendant does represent a risk of further offending and due to previous bail breaches. He was remanded into custody at Maghaberry and is due in Dungannon Magistrates again on September 14.
READ NEXT:
-
Man appears in court over shots fired at Co Tyrone pub after earlier alleged disagreement
- Cost of living: £400 energy discount 'to be delivered in Northern Ireland in November'
- NI salon owner sets up hairdresser support group to help during tough times
- Lisburn councillor says community centres could house people unable to heat homes
For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here. To sign up to our FREE newsletters, see here.
