‘degrading’ | 

Man who had dog thrown at him as he slept on street jailed for retaliatory bottle attack

Stephen McManus struck another man on the head after the animal was used to target him first

Yesterday at 15:00

A man who had a dog thrown at him as he slept in Belfast city centre has been jailed for launching a retaliatory bottle attack.

Stephen McManus struck another man on the head after the animal was used to target him first, a judge was told.

The 49-year-old, of no fixed abode, received a six-month sentence for possessing an offensive weapon in public and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Belfast Magistrates’ Court heard he was initially the victim during the incident at High Street on August 28 last year.

As McManus slept in the area someone threw a dog at him and kicked out at him.

He retaliated by using a bottle to inflict two blows to the head of a man suspected of targeting him.

Defence barrister Sean Doherty insisted McManus had been subjected to “a degrading and sustained assault”.

Counsel submitted: “Thereafter he responded in an inappropriate manner.

“I understand that the person who perpetrated the assault on him received a suspended sentence in relation to their actions.”

With McManus in breach of a previous suspended jail term, Mr Doherty accepted that imprisonment was inevitable.

Imposing six months custody, District Judge Anne Marshall declared: “He has a poor record for violence and this was a very serious assault, striking someone to the head twice with a bottle.”