A man was left with devastating physical and mental injuries after being attacked outside a nightclub. Samuel Lock fell backwards and hit his head on the floor after being punched. He suffered a bleed on the brain and needed psychiatric help due to the effects of the incident.
His attacker, Lewis Revilles, 20, went and hid in his grandparents loft after the assault, where police later found him hiding and arrested him.
Caernarfon Crown Court heard that Revilles had initially tried to “defuse” the incident outside Trilogy nightclub in Bangor on January , 2024, but then attacked Mr Lock.
Prosecutor Elen Owen said the attack happened after Mr Lock and his friends were asked to leave the nightclub. Revilles knew one of the security staff and tried to intervene before both Mr Lock and Revilles walked away along Brick Street. Get the latest Welsh news delivered to your inbox sign up to our newsletter
After the pair had pushed each other, Revilles punched Mr Lock once in the face. He fell backwards suffering injuries to his face and head. At Ysbyty Gwynedd, a CT scan found bleeding on his brain. He was transferred to the Royal Stoke Hospital where a fracture at the back of his skull was found.
In victim impact statements, Mr Lock described feeling considerable pain, daily headaches and said that he had lost his hearing in his right ear after he was assaulted. He was initially unable to work and lost £2,000 in wages. He also said he left Bangor as he didn’t feel safe there anymore.
His second statement said that he had been forced to give up his driving licence and take taxis to work. He said his mental health had deteriorated due to the assault to such an extent that he had been treated in a psychiatric ward.
Simon Rogers, defending, said Revilles, of Greenwood Avenue, Maesgeirchen, Bangor, had initially got involved to try to help. He said: “The defendant became involved, in essence, for the right reasons to begin with in the hope of defusing what was going on, and sadly it escalated. He accepted he acted unlawfully when he delivered the blow.”
The judge, Her Honour Nicola Jones, said Revilles was aware of the “danger” of what the effects of the single punch could have been. She gave him an 18-month jail term but suspended it for 18 months.
As well as the suspended sentence, she ordered the defendant to do 25 days of rehabilitation activity. He will also have to wear an electronic tag during a six-month 9pm to 6am curfew. And a five-month restraining order was put in place prohibiting the offender from contacting his victim.