Sutton dad smashed guitar over mamba user's head

A boozed-up Sutton dad who was 'riled' by mamba users in the town centre smashed a guitar over one man's head 'like a baseball bat', a court heard.
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CCTV captured Simon Groves assaulting the man who was slumped on a bench, on Portland Square, while a male friend recorded it on a phone, at 4pm on August 4.

“At the police station he said: “You’re arresting me for hitting a mamba-head?”” said prosecutor Neil Hollett.

“”He deserved it. You know I hit him over the head with the guitar?””

He told police he had been out drinking for the previous five hours, downing lager, Sambuca shots and spirits, and said he was ten out of ten on a one to ten scale of being drunk.

A heated discussion had broken out, and, in his own words, Groves said he and his friends “were riled to see them off their barnetts with kids hanging around,” said Mr Hollett.

“He says he takes his daughter into town and doesn’t want her to see it.

The guitar, which belonged to the man on the bench, was smashed, the court heard.

“The defendant was going to play it and wake him up and then tell him to f*** off,” said Mr Hollett.

He was last before the courts in January 2017, when he was fired for a public order offence.

Probation officer Cheryl Nisbet said: “He tells me he is fed up with seeing people under the influence of drugs in Sutton. He can accept the irony of this statement.”

She said all the violence on his record had been committed under the influence of alcohol, which makes him do “stupid things.”

Rebecca Williams, mitigating, said custody would have “far reaching” implications for his partner and seven-month-old daughter.

“He feels he has let his young daughter and his partner down,” she added. “He would like to apologise to the victim.”

Simon Groves, 30, of Healdswood Street, Sutton, admitted assault by beating, when he appeared at Mansfield Magistrates Court, on Wednesday.

He was jailed for 24 weeks, suspended for 12 months, and must attend 30 days of the COBAID (Control of Violent Behaviour in Angry Drinkers) programme.

Chair Enid Bloom said the offence was “so serious” because it was committed on a vulnerable person, using a weapon and he has a “really violent record.”

Groves must pay £85 costs and a £115 government surcharge.

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