A man who punched a teenager to the ground was acting under "extreme provocation" a court has heard.

Danny Govier, of Weeley Road, Clacton, appeared before magistrates in Colchester yesterday for sentence having admitted a charge of common assault at an earlier hearing.

Jim Earle, prosecuting, told the court Govier, 24, had been cutting a fallen branch from a tree outside his home on October 27 shortly after severe storms hit the county, when the incident happened.

He said the 14-year-old victim told police he and some friends had gone to help Govier, who was using a chainsaw, and had grabbed hold of the branch.

"But he punched him, hitting him to the floor followed by a couple of blows which caused bruising and swelling," said Mr Earle.

David Davies, mitigating, said the incident had been the culmination of two years of abuse and provocation from the teenager involved.

"The officer involved said he felt the case could be dealt with as a case of extreme provocation," he said.

He said Govier, his partner, his mother-in-law and other residents of Little Clacton had been "taunted and tormented" over the past two years by the boy and he had just snapped.

"The attitude this young man seems to have adopted is that 'you cannot touch me' and this was demonstrated after he shouted abuse at an elderly woman as she left a shop and when she raised her hand he told her 'if you do I will have you for assault'."

Chairman of the bench Peter Mockland told Govier while it was a serious charge on a minor, they accepted he was not vulnerable.

Sentencing him to a conditional discharge for 12 months, he said they had also decided not to order Govier to pay compensation.

"We are not going to give compensation because we believe had it not been for the behaviour of this individual, this incident would never have occurred," he added.

Published Thursday, December 12, 2002

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