A man who put a schoolboy in hospital after a children's row over some sweets has been jailed for eight months.

Daniel Green, 29, an electrician of previous good character, admitted assaulting an 11-year-old boy when he appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court last Friday.

Stephanie Farrimond, prosecuting, said a three-year-old boy complained to Green on October 25 that an 11-year-old boy had ridden a bicycle over his sweets outside Green's home in Hilary Close, Heybridge.

Green confronted the boy who allegedly muttered something about not wanting to waste his time on a poof.

Green then pushed the boy off his bike and kicked him three times, allegedly on the head.The boy went home and his mother confronted Green who apologised.

The boy became sleepy and was taken to hospital for 48 hours. Medical staff concluded he was concussed but there was no lasting brain damage.

The court heard that when arrested Green said: ''I feel really bad for what I did.''

He said he lost his temper because he had been called a poof.Clare Ashcroft, mitigating, said Green was a family man.

He was under a lot of domestic pressure and the boy bore the brunt of his frustration.

Miss Ashcroft said: ''He swept the boy off his bike and then kicked him. He accepts it was likely he kicked his head. He is very remorseful.''

Recorder Elaine Willers told Green: ''Violence on a child by an adult is inexcusable behaviour.

''Whatever pressures there were you are an adult and the boy was a defenceless child and at your mercy. What you did defies description. It was appalling. ''You are lucky his injuries were not permanent,'' she added.

Published Friday January 16, 2004

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