A nightclub bouncer dragged a customer out of sight of CCTV cameras and delivered a "brutal beating" which broke his jaw, a court has heard. Christopher Brophy than laughed at his victim and "mocked" him as he lay injured on the ground.
Swansea Crown Court heard the victim - Jamie Hosken - suffered multiple fractures to the jaw which required surgery to fit metal plates to his face, and was in hospital for four days. Sending Brophy to prison, a judge told him he was a "bully" and said he should never have been working in door security.
Dyfed Thomas, prosecuting, said Mr Hosken and a friend spent the night of April 7 this year at various licensed premises in Neath town centre. During the course of the night Mr Hosken was ejected from the Castell-nedd Arms pub - formerly the Angel - because of his behaviour. He refused to leave the pub, and when police officers attended they explained to him that he had to leave and he should go elsewhere or go home.
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The court heard Mr Hosken and his friend went to the Arch pub and club on Commercial Street where Brophy was a registered door supervisor. The defendant was aware of the earlier incident at the Castell-nedd Arms - his partner is also a door supervisor - and he challenged Mr Hosken. A brief conversation ensued before Brophy grabbed his victim and dragged him from the doorway. The prosecutor said fellow Arch bouncer Lee Brophy was heard to tell the defendant "don't do it here" and "take him around there" while gesticulating to the side of the pub with his hand. Mr Thomas said it was the prosecution case that that was the defendant being told to take Mr Hosken out of sight of CCTV cameras. Get the latest crime and court stories sent straight to your email inbox with our free newsletter.
The court heard the victim does not remember the assault and believes he may have briefly lost consciousness but a witness reported seeing 44-year-old Brophy dragging the customer away to an alley beside the pub and then hearing a loud "thump" and a "commotion". Mr Hosken only remembers being on the floor with a pain in his jaw and a bloody face. The court heard Lee Brophy was seen to approach the man on the ground and tell him: "You don't want to be a grass, you don't know who you are messing with". The defendant then approached the stricken man and laughed and told him he wasn't the person who had assaulted him.
Mr Hosken was taken to Morriston Hospital where X-rays showed a double fracture of the jaw and he underwent surgery to fit metal plates and screws in his face. He was in hospital for four days. In an impact statement to the court the victim said the assault had had a significant emotional and physical effect on him. The defendant was arrested at his place of work on April 14 and when interviewed gave a prepared statement in which he denied assaulting Mr Hosken.
Christopher Brophy, of Arenning Road, Penlan, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has previous convictions for battery from 2013 and three for harassment from 2014.
Ian Ibrahim, for Brophy, said the defendant was a father of three and also a grandfather, and had been a door supervisor for nine years while also working by day as a lorry driver for a scaffolding company. He said the single punch delivered to Mr Hosken had been, in his submission, out of character for his client and references submitted to the court showed a different side to the man. The advocate said Brophy now accepted the prosecution case on the full facts - in contrast to comments he had made to the author of the pre-sentence report - and he said his client would not be returning to working on the doors.
Judge Paul Thomas KC said Mr Hosken may well have been drunk and misbehaving but the defendant had responded by taking him aside and subjecting him to a "brutal beating" before "mocking" the injured man as he lay on the floor and "exalting" in what he had done. He said Brophy's behaviour had "the hallmarks of a bully" and he said he was concerned by comments in the pre-sentence report in which the defendant was minimising what he had done and blaming the victim. Judge Thomas said in his view the defendant should not have been employed as door security given his previous convictions.
With a 20 per cent discount for his guilty plea, Brophy was sentenced to 16 months in prison - he will serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community. The time he has spent on remand since April will count against that sentence.
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