A PUB-GOER punched a man and knocked him out after he touched his wife in a busy town centre bar, a court heard. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Conor Melinn, 30, and his wife have been together since they were 15 years old and have three young children, said defence solicitor Chris Cormack. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Valentine\u2019s Day, Melinn’s wife attended Cardiff\u2019s Magistrates Court to support her husband as he admitted assaulting the man who put his hand on her back in the Borough Arms pub in Barry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to prosecutor Nick Evans, in a \u201ccompletely unprovoked\u201d assault, Melinn knocked out Daniel Caspelino at 11.30pm on the evening of October 29, 2022. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court was shown footage of Melinn throwing a single punch that connected with Mr Caspelino\u2019s jaw, causing him to fall and hit his head on the dancefloor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr Cormack argued that Mr Caspelino had made Melinn\u2019s wife feel uncomfortable on multiple occasions throughout the night. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr Caspelino had \u201cput his hand on the lower part of her back or perhaps a little lower,\u201d said Mr Cormack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is only normal for people to become defensive over a wife or partner,” he said. “Just because you make one decision to deliver one blow, it does not mean you need rehabilitation. It was a mistake.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soon after the assault, Melinn was escorted out of the bar by security, the court heard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reading from Mr Caspelino\u2019s victim impact statement, Mr Evans said: \u201cIt has knocked his confidence and he no longer feels safe going out and taking part in the night-time economy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr Caspelino was still experiencing pain in his jaw weeks later, said Mr Evans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, while Melinn did react poorly, there was no malicious intent behind the punch, said Mr Cormack. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The prosecution pointed out that Melinn has six prior convictions for eight offences, including one offence of battery and two offences of causing grievous bodily harm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr Cormack said: \u201cHis previous convictions have been spent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Magistrate James Thomas ordered Conor Melinn of Llywn y Gog, Rhoose, to pay \u00a3655 in total, which he will pay back at a rate of \u00a350 per month. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Conor Melinn’s wife supported him as he appeared in court on Valentine’s Day to admit assault<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":913,"featured_media":74271,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,3],"tags":[23,874,875,394,16,395,2884,1760],"coauthors":[8086],"class_list":["post-74218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-barry","category-news","tag-cardiff","tag-assault","tag-cardiff-magistrates-court","tag-court","tag-crime","tag-magistrates-court","tag-married-couple","tag-valentines-day"],"yoast_head":"\n