A Richmond man has been jailed after knocking a man unconscious – then lifting him off the ground and slapping him around the face while he was still out cold.
Dominic Kelly, 27, struck the man after taking a taxi to a pub in Richmond town centre where the victim was having a drink, York Crown Court heard.
“He got out of the taxi, knocked (the victim) to the floor, picked him up and slapped him twice,” said prosecutor Rachael Landing.
The victim, who was named in court, was knocked unconscious by the punch and was still comatose when he was lifted up and slapped, the court heard.
It was the second time that evening that the victim had been attacked by Kelly, who has previous convictions for violence.
The first attack occurred at the Ralph Fitz Randal, a Wetherspoon’s pub on Queens Road where the victim was with his girlfriend.
Kelly marched into the pub, walked straight up to the victim and head-butted him, telling him: “That’s what you fxxxxxx get.”
He then walked back out and left the scene. This attack, at about 5.30pm on September 4 last year, happened about six hours before the second drink-fuelled assault.
Kelly – said to be jealous of the victim – appeared for sentence on Friday after admitting assault occasioning actual bodily harm and common assault.
Michele Turner, mitigating, said Kelly had a good work ethic but endured a difficult childhood and his life had been blighted by tragedy.
Recorder Sam Green QC said Kelly’s behaviour was a “piece of criminal conduct of a troubling and violent nature” which had involved an “element of planning”.
Of the second attack, he said that Kelly had “effectively lifted up a man in an unconscious state and slapped him…following an earlier, nasty assault”.
Kelly, of St James Chapel Flats, was jailed for 12 months. He will serve half of that sentence behind bars before his release on prison licence.
