Man punched a woman in the face after she congratulated him on his recent wedding

Paul Alexander O’Rourke, 32, denied assaulting Carly Bromley occasioning actual bodily harm, but was found guilty following a trial at Teesside Magistrates’ Court.

Ansab Shan prosecuting, said the incident happened on May 25 last year when the pair, along with another man, were in a taxi travelling from Billingham to Stockton.

Giving evidence in court, Miss Bromley said she had been out with friends at The Swan pub when they had decided to go to Stockton late in the evening. The taxis were full, so she got in one with O’Rourke and the other man who she knew well and had been talking to earlier in the night. She was in the front passenger seat.

She said: “I turned around to face Paul and said congratulations on getting married.

“A song came on the radio I liked and I turned back to turn it up.

“I turned back around and said ‘where was my invitation?’ and had a bit of a laugh and that’s when he punched me.”

The taxi driver pulled over and called the police who arrived and spoke to all parties. Miss Bromley, whose nose was bleeding, said she didn’t want to press charges that night because she was in shock, but the following day when she told her family what had happened she went to the police.

The victim had been struck in the forehead and top of the nose and after visiting hospital was found to have soft tissue damage to her forehead and a dislodged and swollen nose.

PC Claire Trippett, who had attended on the evening, told the court: “She had a bump to the head which was golf ball sized. Her nose was bleeding.”

O’Rourke, of Hordon Road, Billingham, who was represented by Helen Sabiston, admitted he had caused the injuries, but said it was by shoving Miss Bromley away with the palm of his hand not punching her. He claimed he was acting in self-defence because she was being argumentative and pointing at him, almost poking him in the eye.

And, he said she caused a small scratch to his face.

He said: “She was pointing in my face and nearly hit my eye, so I shoved her off.

“It was a quick shove, a quick reaction. I admit I am a big lad, but it was just a reaction, a quick shove.”

O’Rourke said he apologised on the night and later in a text message because he felt bad about the injuries.

When asked why he apologised, the defendant said: “One it is a girl and two she was bleeding. I felt bad.

Judge Timothy Capstick found O’Rourke guilty, saying: “Unprovoked assaults on females is wholly unacceptable”

He was ordered to pay £300 costs and £300 in compensation and was made the subject of a 12-month restraining order not to contact Miss Bromley.