Man cut victim's face with slap an Isle of Wight court told

A man who caused his victim's nose to bleed with a back-handed slap will need to return to the Isle of Wight Magistrates' Court later this month to be sentenced.
A man who caused his victim's nose to bleed with a back-handed slap will need to return to the Isle of Wight Magistrates' Court later this month to be sentenced.
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A NEWPORT man who struck another man — he claimed he 'had history with' — so hard in the face, he caused it to bleed profusely, a court was told. 

Todd Creighton, of Furrlongs, faces the prospect of being made subject to a probation order after he admitted assaulting Donald Greenwood by beating on April 8.

Mr Greenwood was getting out of his car outside a Newport address, at around 3.30pm, when Creighton pulled up beside him in his car.

Creighton then got out of his car, walked over to him and asked: "Do you remember me from years ago?"

No sooner had Mr Greenwood told him he could not remember him, Creighton delivered a back-handed slap to his face out of the blue, which caused the victim's glasses to fly off and cause a cut, "which bled significantly," said Ann Smout, prosecuting, at the Isle of Wight Magistrates' Court.

Creighton then drove off.

In Mr Greenwood's statement to the police, he wrote: "I feel annoyed this has happened. I do not know why this has happened. My nose is painful and throbbing as I write this.

"There was a significant amount of bleeding from my nose and it's very swollen. That night I spent a lot of time in A&E."

Creighton, 38, when questioned two months later, told the police he knew the victim and there had been some history between them.

The victim claimed he was punched, rather than slapped, but the Crown Prosecution Service accepted Creighton's version of the assault as it made no material difference to sentencing.

For Creighton, Michael McGoldrick said his client was still grieving for his late wife and is under the care of the Care in the Community mental health team, diagnosed with schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder.

Creighton accepted he lashed out once.

Magistrates ordered a report on Creighton, who is unemployed, and bailed him to reappear for sentencing on August 19. 

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