Father struck schoolboy outside school gates

A father who physically assaulted a teenage boy outside his school has been handed a suspended prison sentence after a court heard how he let the “red mist” descend when the youngster stood up to him.

Nathan O’Mara, 38, drove to the school after learning of claims the boy had been bullying his daughter, feeling “angry” and “protective” over the situation. But rather than reporting his concerns through proper channels, he took matters into his own hands.

Newport Crown Court heard during a sentencing hearing on Wednesday that O’Mara had not simply intended to ask the teenager whether he was bullying his daughter – he had planned to deliver “some sort of message”.

The confrontation unfolded outside the school gates at home time, in full view of other young people and pupils. O’Mara pulled up aggressively in his car and approached the boy to threaten him. When the teenager refused to back down and “squared up” to him, O’Mara struck him with an open hand to the face. He then hit the boy a second time after the student barged into him in retaliation.

In his sentencing remarks, Recorder Ben Blakemore said: “You pulled up in you car driving unnecessarily aggressively and approached him in order to threaten him off your daughter.

“At that point I am not sure you planned to assault him. What changed was something you hadn’t anticipated, he stood up to you.

“He squared up and he didn’t step backwards when you stepped forwards. Matters heightened the way matters can do when machismo kicks in.

“You wanted to assert yourself and frighten him off. You struck him with an open hand to the face, that was unnecessary. That occurred because you were raising the heat in the confrontation and trying to get your message across in a different way.”

The recorder added: “You went about things entirely the wrong way. Rather than using channels available to you through school or the police if needed, you decided you’d deal with things yourself and in your own way.”

In a victim personal statement read to the court by prosecutor Anisha Rai, the schoolboy said: “It’s affected my life at school, since the incident I have been isolated from friends and other students spread rumours… They portrayed me to be something I’m not.

“I stopped going to certain lessons… I stopped saying hello to anyone and stopped speaking to other students… I have tried to reinstate friendships but I’m worried they will not return to what they were before the incident.”

In mitigation, David Pinnell said his client has a good relationship with his daughter and a positive relationship with his ex-partner, adding that O’Mara is not considered to be at risk of reoffending.

O’Mara, of Hayes Wood, Sully, Vale of Glamorgan, was convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm following a trial, after a jury rejected his claim of self-defence. The court heard he has previous convictions dating back to when he was younger.

He was sentenced to 44 weeks’ imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, made subject to a restraining order for 18 months, and ordered to pay costs of £2,000.