A JUDGE quipped that two defendants can “sail off into the future” after he fined them for their part in an incident where a man was threatened with plastic oars.
Lee Walls and Robert Hicks appeared in court on Wednesday after admitting one charge each of using threatening behaviour causing fear or violence during a heated argument in Colchester last April.
It was then that Paul Lewis – who did not attend court – was blamed for damaging a car in Poplar Hall Close, Colchester.
The court heard Walls, of Cat's Lane, Suffolk, and Hicks, of Clairmont Road, Colchester, went to Lewis’s address armed with oars, with Lewis confronting the pair with a hammer and filing knife.
Martin Ivory, mitigating for Lewis, said: "There was some general abuse and aggression between each of the three.
“At one point, Hicks armed himself with plastic nautical oars which were waved about and perhaps discouraged Lewis from doing anything silly with a hammer.
“It seems this took place in the presence of a five-year-old [but] this unedifying spectacle didn’t lead to any blows being exchanged.”
The incident lasted about 30 minutes before fizzling out.
Ivory continued: “It is perhaps worth noting that one of the witnesses was so concerned that, rather than pay attention, she decided she would rather go to sleep and close the blinds.
“That probably gives a flavour of what we are dealing with.”
Walls, who is 38 and works as a builder, was fined £750 for his part in the incident and was also charged an additional £100 for possession of cannabis.
Hicks, who is 33 and runs a motorcycle shop was fined £750 for being part of the fracas.
Both face jail if they do not pay their fines in the next three months.
Dyble, mitigating for Hicks, said: “A financial penalty fits the bill – there is an alternative way of dealing with this, maybe to hit the defendants in the pocket.”
At Ipswich Crown Court, Judge Pugh said: “Each of you produced a weapon in the form of paddles.
“There is probably little to be gained in terms of sentencing if it is anything other than a fine.
“Sail off into the future then with those oars.”
Paul Lewis will be sentenced next month.
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