A VIOLENT Pembroke man who a court said “was far too handy with his fists” is starting a long stretch in jail tonight for kicking a stranger in the face.
Aaron Peniket, aged 32, who gave his address as Main Street, Pembroke, had denied causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Thomas Hancock.
On Tuesday (Jul 21) a jury at Swansea Crown Court convicted him of the offence and jailed him for six and a half years.
Peniket had already admitted assaulting Patrika Kurt by beating in a different incident.
The jury heard how on January 25 Peniket had been out drinking in the town with his girlfriend.
Barrister Nicola Powell, for the CPS, said that Peniket walked in the area around Paddles Nightclub near a group including Mr Hancock.
They watched CCTV footage of Peniket suddenly punching him twice to the face, knocking him to the ground, and then kicking him twice.
Mr Hancock, a railway worker, was treated for a fractured jaw.
Peniket, who works occasionally as a scaffolder, told the jury he thought he was about to be attacked.
Then he said he had only pretended to kick Mr Hancock, but Judge Huw Rees called the excuses “fanciful …Mr Hancock had been a complete stranger enjoying a night out after a day’s work.”
Peniket was told he would be banned from licensed premises in Pembroke for two years following his release from prison.
