Rossett man jailed for biting chunk out of victim’s ear during nightclub scuffle

Dec 18 2009 Chester Chronicle

A MUSIC enthusiast has been jailed for biting a chunk out of another man's ear during a MC rap night at a nightclub.

Daniel Peter Hughes, 22 - apprentice of the year at the Airbus wings factory at Broughton in North Wales - was said to have shaken his head like a dog, with the ear in his mouth.

Mold Crown Court heard how a scuffle broke out in the DJ's box at the Tivoli Nightclub in Buckley.

Victim Lee Williams, Hughes and others were performing but Mr Williams grabbed the microphone because he thought it was unfair that it was not being passed to him.

That sparked off a scuffle and during the incident Hughes bit off the lower part of Mr Williams' right ear, leaving him permanently disfigured.

It was alleged he shook his head as he did so and either bit through or ripped off part of the ear, which had never been found.

The victim bled profusely, and he had since been offered plastic surgery.

Hughes, of Higher Lane in Rossett, was cleared of inflicting GBH with intent, but convicted by the jury of GBH - and was jailed for 15 months.

The defendant, who denied both charges and claimed he acted in self-defence, was told by the judge that he had shown no remorse and had been nonchalant on the night.

He even thought it appropriate to rap to the custody sergeant when he arrived at the police station!

“You were involved in a scuffle, and no more than that, with Lee Williams at the Tivoli Club on June 6 this year,” Judge John Rogers QC told him.

“But that scuffle meant that your mouth came in to close contact with his ear. “You took the opportunity to bike off a large chunk of his ear. That was a deliberate act.

“There really was no defence to the charge which the jury has convicted you of.”

Interviewed, he gave the police no assistance and did not attempt to answer the questions of officers investigating the offence.

“You have a good work record. You were apprentice of the year at Airbus and you come from a good family,” the judge told him.

But the sentence had to reflect the gravity of what he had done to Lee Williams, who was permanently disfigured.

“The sentence is also meant to act as a deterrent to other young men who think it appropriate to bite lumps out of their fellow men,” he said.

Brett Williamson, prosecuting, said that a number of people were MC-ing and rapping during the evening.

But a disturbance broke out and it culminated in the defendant biting the victim's lower right ear.

“It was done with such force that he bit right through the lower part of his ear lobe,” said Mr Williamson.

“It was not a quick nip. It was not like biting a piece of cheese or a tender steak - he did it with such persistence and with such aggression that he bit right through and the blood began running down the victim's neck.

“The defendant shook his head as he did so, rather like a dog would shake a toy,” said Mr Williamson.

Hughes, when arrested, had blood on his chin but told police he had not bitten anyone's ear off.

The victim told how he felt “a searing pain” as the defendant bit him.

“It was as if he was trying to bite through. I was in real pain. I tried to poke him in the eye, anything to get him off me,” he said.

Simon Mills, defending, said Hughes acted in self-defence.

Hughes said that when the microphone was grabbed there was a mêlée and he was struck by a number of people. He had not started it but found himself surrounded.

Hughes claimed that his hands were stuck down by his side, he could not defend himself in any other way and bit Mr Williams. He felt threatened and was panicking.

But he had not intended to cause such injuries, he said.

Mr Williamson told the jury it was nonsense to claim he had acted in self-defence.

There was not a mark on the defendant but the victim had lost part of his ear which simply could not amount to reasonable self-defence.