A TEENAGE “sleepwalker” punched a stranger and kicked a puppy in Colchester.

James O’Shaughnessy, 18, cannot remember what happened and CCTV footage has accidentally been deleted.

However he still admitted one count of assault and one count of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal – a six-month-old Alsatian – when he appeared at Colchester Magistrates’ Court yesterday.

Shaughnessy, of no fixed address, was at The Globe on North Station Road, having been at a Christmas party on November 30.

It was about 12.50am.

Harshik De Silva, prosecuting, said: “The victim was walking his dog. He heard male voices shouting.

“The defendant struck him to his left cheek and the left side of his nose.

“Then he kicked the dog.”

The puppy suffered an injured paw.

The court heard the defendant has no memory of the incident whatsoever and it is claimed he often sleepwalks, or he may have just been drunk.

The teen was seen by the probation service before District Judge Susan Holdham passed sentence.

O’Shaughnessy is already on a youth referral order for attacking his father, who got a restraining order against him following the incident.

The court also heard he is taking part in alcohol treatment and anger management problems in between sofa surfing between seven homes this year because he is not welcome at the family home.

O’Shaughnessy said: “I could have been dead. I was in such a mess when I was at the police cell. I could have done anything that night. I did not know what happened.”

District Judge Holdham said: “What is the worrying part of this offence, what I find worrying, is the fact you have no memory of it.

“This gentleman was not a man you were arguing or fighting with he was just a passer-by.

“He was just out walking his dog.”

O’Shaughnessy was sentenced to a 12 month community order with 25 days rehabilitation activity, 40 hours unpaid work and ordered to pay £145 in costs and charges.