A MAN accused of a brutal assault claimed yesterday he was provoked
when his alleged victim terrified his eight-year-old son and launched a
drunken attack on him.
Mr Richard Anthony Mellor, 30, faced Liverpool City Magistrates,
charged with causing 49-year-old Mr Barry Hayes, a builder, grievous
bodily harm with intent in the car park of the Heath pub in Garston,
Liverpool, on August 11.
The father-of-two, from Grassendale, Liverpool, needed extensive
surgery to his face and was blinded in one eye following the alleged
incident.
Mr Andrew Gowar, prosecuting, said Mr Hayes had left the pub at about
9.15pm and noticed a fresh scratch on the bonnet of his BMW.
He said the four children playing nearby started to shout abuse at
him. He went to speak to them and they made off. Soon after, Mr Mellor
arrived with one of his children.
Mr Gowar said: ''The complainant was punched and kicked repeatedly on
his head and body during a ferocious attack which appears to have lasted
several minutes.''
However, Mr Simon Mintz, the defending solicitor, applying for bail,
claimed Mr Hayes's widely reported account of the attack was ''both
distorted and misleading''.
He said Mr Mellor's ''frightened and hysterical'' eight-year-old son
had come home and told him Mr Hayes had come out of the pub, shouting
and aggressive, and had forced the children to scatter by reversing
across the car park. He had then grabbed the eight-year-old and thrown
him from his bike.
Mr Mintz said that when Mr Mellor went to the pub, he was subjected to
a ''furious and frenetic assault'' by the complainant before he was
forced to retaliate.
Bail was refused and Mr Mellor was remanded in custody for a week. A
provisional committal date was set for October 12.
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