Teen who '˜assaulted man after he made inappropriate comments to her' discharged by magistrates

Demi Lou Nichols, 19, of Spilsby Road, Eastville admitted assaulting Ahmed Mzoughi when she appeared at Boston Magistrates Court.

Marie Stace, prosecuting, said Nichols approached Mr Mzoughi at around 11.50pm on November 18 in the Marine Bar at Skegness and struck him a number of times, leaving him with a cut to his right eye.

She said cctv images showed her approaching him and pushing him, then, when he pushed back, lashing out at him and making contact with his face.

She told police she had been dancing with him earlier but she had refused to go home with him and also alleged he had called her a tart earlier in the evening.

She said she could ‘tell he wanted a fight’ but admitted she had hit him first.

Mitigating, Andrea Wilkes said Nichols accepted her involvement.

She said that on the night she had been with family members at a local hotel and then she and some of her family had gone on to the Marine Bar.

She said Nichols said a group of males attached themselves to her group and one in particular attached himself to her, but ‘she gave him no indication she was interested in an intimate relationship with him’.

Ms Wilkes said Nichols assaulted Mzoughi only after he made inappropriate comments to her but she did regret it.

She said it was ‘clearly out of character’ and the conviction was likely to affect her desire to train as a paramedic.

The magistrates told her she ‘did not need to be punished for the offence because of the circumstances surrounding it’, and gave her an absolute discharge with no orders for costs or compensation.