Police officers to get £500 compensation after rough night on the town

Thursday 13 October 2016

Two police officers will be getting £250 each in compensation from a man who assaulted one of them on a night out.

Anthony O'Rourke (33) was sentenced in the Magistrate's Court this week to 50 hours community service after pushing one of the officers outside a club in town last month and then violently resisting arrest.

The Court heard how O'Rourke, a carpenter, who has been living in Jersey since he was 17, approached the two officers outside the club in Halkett Street at 02:00 on Saturday 24 September, saying he'd been assaulted by a man in a group.

When the police told him there hadn't been an assault, and asked him to leave the area, he pushed the male officer who fell back against the wall behind him.

When they tried to arrest him, O'Rourke threw two punches in the area of the male officer's head and all three of them ended up on the floor. 

The court heard that O'Rourke was thrashing about so much two members of the public stepped in to help, until other officers arrived to arrest him. During the arrest, O'Rourke who was swearing at them, pulled the female officer's hat off and the male officer's ear piece and damaged one of their high-vis vests.

His defence Advocate James Turnbull said O'Rourke doesn't usually drink during the week but that weekend had had about six pints and a couple of vodka and cokes. He said he admitted he had lost his temper, was very remorseful and that this was "out of character".

Advocate Turnbull said he works hard and that sometimes the stress gets to him, but recognises that he needs to address the amount he is drinking and is "very disappointed in himself". He said prison would affect O'Rourke's job and asked for the Court to consider a non-custodial sentence so that he could continue working.

Magistrate Bridget Shaw told O'Rourke: "It's always a serious matter to assault a police officer. They prevent disturbances happening and if the police can't do that, there would be no public order on the streets.

"Clearly you are drinking too much and you behave in a way you wouldn't normally. You have to cut down on your drinking, experience shows that drinking to address your problems is never the answer."

He was given 50 hours community service, the equivalent of one month in custody and ordered to pay each officer £250 in compensation and a further £6 to fix the high-vis jacket.