The drunken patient became "frustrated" after being told he would have to wait five hours for treatment
A DRUNKEN man who became “frustrated” when told he faced a five-hour wait at Morriston Hospital’s A&E department and launched a tirade of abuse at a security guard has been jailed.
Swansea Magistrates Court heard that Kristian Dale Thomas had recently moved to Swansea from Llanelli for a “fresh start”.
Sharon Anderson, prosecuting, said that at 8.30am on March 2 a hospital security guard was called to the emergency unit to deal with a patient who was being abusive towards staff.
Thomas was told to calm down, was escorted outside - but then launched into a foul-mouthed and abusive rant directed at the guard, making a series of personal comments about him and his wife.
The 21-year-old then told the guard he had been in prison, and he could “smash his face in”.
Police were called and quickly arrived on the scene - Thomas then became abusive to the officer, and was arrested.
Thomas, formerly of Grant Street in Llanelli but now of Market Street in Morriston , pleaded guilty to a public order offence when he appeared before district judge Neale Thomas sitting at the magistrates court.
The court heard Thomas had previous convictions for some 13 offences, and was currently on a community order for assaulting a child and throwing bricks through a house window.
However, of the 66 probation appointments he had been offered as part of his order, he had only attended 11.
Rebecca Carter, for Thomas, said her client had recently moved from Llanelli in search of a “fresh start”.
She said her client had been drinking the night before the hospital incident and was still intoxicated - he had gone to A&E after being knocked down by a motorbike that morning, and became “frustrated” when told he would have to wait five hours for treatment.
The solicitor added that Thomas’s probation worker had been “very understanding” about his missed appointments, which were medically-related.
District judge Neale Thomas said offences committed in a hospital setting were always treated seriously by the courts.
He told the defendant: “Hospital staff need to be protected from abuse while they are in work. You caused a serious disturbance at hospital while on a court order for assault.”
The district judge revoked Thomas’s existing community order and sentenced him to 12 weeks in prison instead, and 12 weeks for the new matter, both sentences to run consecutively making a total of 24 weeks behind bars.
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/local-news/jail-man-who-launched-foul-12779135
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