A MAN has denied intentionally glassing another drinker in a pub following a row.

James Alefounder appeared at Colchester Magistrates’ Court charged with assaulting a person causing actual bodily harm.

It is alleged he threw a glass into the face of another customer while they were both at The Brewers Arms, in Victoria Place, Brightlingsea, in January.

Kristal Penrose, prosecuting, said it was the crown’s case Alefounder, 33, had deliberately thrown the glass into the victim’s face.

She said: “At 8pm on January 18 the victim attended the Brewers Arms in Brightlingsea.

“He saw the defendant at the bar.

“Throughout the evening he felt the defendant was mocking him and confronted him about it.

“The defendant was aggressive and said he would put a glass in his face.

“He then proceeded to throw the glass into his face which smashed everywhere.

“Some fragments embedded into his face causing some bleeding.”

The complainant required some medical attention but did not need to go to hospital for treatment on the cuts.

The court heard a few days afterwards, Alefounder called the victim to speak to him about the incident.

He declined and reported the contact to the police.

There have been no discussions between the pair since then.

It is Alefounder’s case he did not deliberately throw the glass but knocked it out of the victim’s hand where it then shattered.

Magistrates decided the matter was too serious for them to deal with and declined jurisdiction of the case.

Alefounder, of Waterside, Brightlingsea, was bailed until a plea and trial preparation at Chelmsford Crown Court on July 10.

Until that hearing he is banned from contacting the victim and two other prosecution witnesses who are likely to give evidence if the case proceeds to trial.