A YOUNG man who escaped being jailed after smashing a car window and chasing the driver with a baseball bat is behind bars for failing to comply with his suspended sentence.
Keelan Boyle had been given a six-month suspended jail term at Warwick Crown Court after he admitted having an offensive weapon, threatening behaviour, common assault and causing damage.
But he was back at the court for breaching the order after failing to turn up for probation supervision and twice failing to attend rehabilitation activity appointments.
Telling Boyle, 20, of Cambridge Street, that he had been given a chance and had not taken it, Judge Anthony Potter imposed the six-month sentence.
During the original hearing in January, prosecutor Lucinda Wilmott-Lascelles said that at 1pm on Sunday November 18 Boyle was a passenger in his girlfriend’s VW in Cambridge Street.
A Vauxhall Corsa came out of a side road and hit the driver’s side of the VW.
Boyle got out of the VW and approached the driver’s side of the Corsa carrying a baseball bat.
While the driver was still in his seat, Boyle smashed the driver’s window, and the glass caused cuts to the victim’s face and fingers.
To get away, the victim climbed across and got out of the passenger door before running up the road, chased for a short distance by Boyle who then returned to the scene of the crash.
The Corsa driver spoke to some passers-by and borrowed their phone to call the police, who arrived and arrested Boyle.
When he was interviewed, Boyle said he had had a heavy session the night before and did not remember much about the incident – but was shown a CCTV recording and accepted it was him.
The recording, which was played in court, also showed that back at the scene of the crash, he had tried to stop his girlfriend confronting the victim.
Miss Wilmott-Lascelles added that Boyle had one previous conviction for offences of causing damage.
Boyle’s barrister said he was ‘shocked at the way he behaved,’ and accepted his reaction to the collision was excessive and inappropriate.
But she pointed out that bat had been in the car because he had been playing with his nephew the day before – and the ball was also still in the car.
Imposing the suspended sentence Judge Sylvia de Bertodano had told Boyle: “There was a car accident. Whatever went wrong, you lost your temper and made the great mistake of picking up a baseball bat and smashing the window of the other car.”
She added the victim “was clearly terrified as he ran up the street pursued by you.
“But it is right to say you stopped of your own accord and returned and put the bat back in the car.”
