Bolted from bar and ran into the sea

Bolted from bar and ran into the sea

30 July 2014

ST. PATRICK’S Day ‘madness’ ends with a Newcastle teenager running into the sea, a court has been told.

Nineteen year-old Steven Hallett had already been thrown out of the Dugout Bar on two occasions before he returned just after midnight.

Hallett, of Ballaghbeg Park, then smashing snooker cues and pint glasses and punched a member of staff before running down to the beach where he went into the sea.

He was brought ashore by police officers and on Thursday appeared at Downpatrick Court charged with assault and criminal damage.

A defence barrister said it was “St. Patrick’s Day madness” brought on by alcohol consumption.

“Alcohol did play a big part in this,” he said, adding that Hallett wishes to move to Guernsey where he has family and “really make a go of his life.”

District Judge Mr. Eamon King fined Hallett a total of £400 and ordered him to pay £95 compensation to the owner of the Dugout Bar for the cost of the broken items.

Mr. King told Hallett it would have been best if he had stayed away from the pub after he was removed the first time.

“If you’d gone home after the first occasion, you wouldn’t be here today,” Mr. King told the defendant.