Man headbutted bar owner after row with pool player

Thirty-three-year-old to be sentenced in June

A court’s heard a Port Erin man drunkenly headbutted the owner of a bar after a row with a pool player.

Thirty-three-year-old Sean Thomas Patrick O’Neill of Ballahane Close appeared before magistrates at Douglas Courthouse.

He pleaded guilty to one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and one of disorderly behaviour on licensed premises.

Prosecution advocate Barry Swain told the court O’Neill had been drinking in the Riddler Under the Nest at the Falcon’s Nest Hotel in Port Erin at around 1.30am on 12 September last year.

A man playing pool accidentally bumped into him and O’Neill began slapping the man’s head before other drinkers tried to calm him down.

When bar staff alerted the pub’s boss, O’Neill turned violent and butted the man twice in a struggle before being ejected from the premises.

Police later arrested O’Neill, who said he couldn’t remember the incident because he’d been drunk.

The bench granted bail and O’Neill is next due to appear in court for sentencing on 9 June.