Ex-Marine jailed for sexual assault and violent attack

A former Royal Marine who sexually assaulted a teenager in Swansea city centre before violently attacking a friend who challenged him has been sent to prison.

The sexual assault

Nathan Bantick was walking along The Kingsway on the evening of November 26 when he made inappropriate comments to a group of teenage girls. The 33-year-old then touched an 18-year-old woman on her groin area and thigh.

Swansea Crown Court heard his friend Kevin Owen challenged Bantick’s behaviour and physically confronted him about what he’d done.

The violent response

Bantick responded by punching Owen to the ground and kicking him before walking off to a nearby hostel where both men lived.

Around 15 minutes later, Owen arrived home and began telling hostel staff outside the building that Bantick was a “nonce” who had been “chatting up young girls”.

Bantick then emerged from the hostel and launched a second assault on Owen. He took him to the floor, got on top of him and repeatedly punched him in the face. Owen was taken to Morriston Hospital where doctors found significant swelling and bruising to his face – he had lost two teeth.

Previous violent conviction

The court heard Bantick had been jailed for 12 months in April 2014 for a violent rampage at Park Lane massage parlour in Swansea during the early hours of Christmas Day.

On that occasion, a Santa-hat wearing Bantick paid for a 30-minute massage but became “very agitated” when told his time was up. He shouted he hadn’t received his full half-hour and had been “mugged off”.

He began issuing threats before punching the wall and punching two female staff members in the head. The former Marine took out his military ID and told them: “Who do you think the police are going to want to believe, you or me?”

When a fellow customer, Jeremy Rees, confronted Bantick saying “You can’t do that to women”, Bantick launched a “sustained attack” on him. He repeatedly punched and kneed Rees before kicking him in the head as he lay defenceless on the floor.

Bantick was refunded £40 before leaving. His barrister at that hearing told the court his senior officer was present and a custodial sentence would result in his discharge from the Royal Marines.

His most recent conviction before the latest offences was from July 2024 for being drunk and disorderly.

Sentencing

Sarah John, defending, told the court Bantick was “genuinely remorseful” for the sexual assault and had described his own behaviour as “disgraceful”. She said the prosecution accepted he had initially been “standing up for himself” regarding the assaults on Owen but then went “over the top”.

The barrister explained Bantick recognised his alcohol problems and need to remain abstinent. He has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder, and is awaiting an assessment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Judge Geraint Walters told Bantick he hoped he realised what he did to the teenage woman in The Kingsway was a “gross interference with her personal dignity”. He said Bantick had then subjected Owen to a “merciless and sustained attack”.

The judge said members of the public were “rightly concerned about hooligans and predators on our streets”.

Bantick, of Alexandra Road, Swansea, pleaded guilty to sexual assault and two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. He has six previous convictions for 11 offences.

With discounts for his guilty pleas, he was sentenced to 12 months in prison – four months for the sexual assault and eight months for each ABH count, which will run concurrently with one another and consecutive to the sexual sentence.

He will serve up to half the sentence in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.