REGIONAL NEWS: Clubber in court after 'massive melee' at Chinawhite Newcastle
A large scale disturbance left a doorman at city centre nightclub with broken bones after two groups clashed.
The victim was working as a member of door staff at Chinawhite, in Newcastle city centre, on April 2 last year. Newcastle Crown Court heard there came a point when his colleagues inside the club asked for help with a disturbance between two groups of men, one from the North East and the other from London.
A decision was made by staff to eject the group from the south, including Joe McDermot, and as they did so large scale trouble erupted. Referring to CCTV of what happened, Judge Stephen Earl said: "There's a massive melee.
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"The defendant is not seen easily doing a great deal until we get to this point at 3 o'clock in that doorway. There's a lot of people pulling people away, that's the point at which the defendant is punching the complainant and they go through the door."
The court heard McDermot broke free from being kicked out and returned to throw more punches. The doorman suffered a number of fractures to his face and eye socket but prosecutors were unable to say how these were caused.
McDermot was originally charged with GBH (grievous bodily harm) but prosecutors accepted his guilty plea to affray. He pleaded guilty on the basis had had not been involved in the original clash with the other group and that it was a fast-paced disturbance in which a number of people threw punches.
Judge Stephen Earl sentenced him to 12 months suspended for two years with 200 hours unpaid work and he must pay £2,500 compensation. The judge told him: "You weren't looking for trouble but you found it. We can see you throwing punches having been pulled out of the situation, through the doorway, you came back.
"You can't go into the night time economy and have this level of violence without it being recorded as a custodial sentence."
The judge added: "This was a massive group situation they (staff) had to resolve. What they were trying to do is get everyone out. They were trying to perform a public service and ensure that trouble didn't escalate." The judge said the offence was aggravated by the fact there were lots of people present, the victim was a public servant and that it was a sustained incident in which McDermot was "heavily involved".
Andrew Walker, defending McDermot, said: "He and others travelled to this city and they were not coming to cause trouble or become involved in any disorder. They were having a pleasant evening then something happened between two groups of men.
"The only person who answers for anything out of what was a large disturbance is this young man. He is adamant he has not done anything to provoke any conflict whatsoever.
"It was a place where, from time to time, acts of disorder were occurring. The defendant is adamant the trouble did not originate from the defendant or his group.
"Once an incident like that is underway it can be chaotic and confusing. There was a moment when he went into fight or flight mode."
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