A man hit his 62-year-old father in the head after getting angry about the lack of Christmas decorations in his flat, a court has heard.

Edward Jonathon Walker appeared at Haverfordwest Magistrates Court on Wednesday, February 15.

Magistrates heard how Walker, of The Ridgeway, Manorbier, was the passenger in the car with his father on December 23 last year.

The pair were driving towards Tenby when Walker, 34, said he was not happy about the lack of Christmas decorations in his flat. His father told him that he could put some up himself.

Walker began hitting the dashboard in front of him and went to pull up the hand brake, so his father pulled the car into the garage at Kiln Park.

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Both men got out the vehicle and Walker punched his father to the head once before going to push him. The incident was captured on CCTV.

Walker pleaded guilty to assault by beating.

Dennis Davies, prosecuting, said that the father had sustained a small injury as a result of the assault. However, he had withdrawn his complaint and wished to redact the statement he had made.

The court heard that Walker had two previous drink related offences on his record, one in 2021 and a caution from a decade ago.

Mike Kelleher, defending, said that Walker had had issues with alcohol for a long time. He was engaging with the community drug and alcohol team and that a four-month stint in residential rehab was imminent.

“He has spent a long time getting this far in arranging rehabilitation,” he said.

He added that Walker’s father was fully supportive of him going into rehab and that this was one of the reasons why he withdrew his complaint.

“For all that has happened, they are a close family and supportive of him,” he said. “Everybody has been working towards rushing this through so that he can go to rehab.”

After some consideration, magistrates handed down a conditional discharge.

“We are going to go down the line of conditional discharge because of your guilty plea. There will be a conditional discharge for 12 months,” they said.

They added that it would have been six months but that the domestic context of the assault ‘makes it more severe’.

They also ordered Walker to pay £85 costs and a £25 victim surcharge.

 

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