Jail term handed down as judge warns courts will not tolerate spit attacks on paramedics and police officers

A court heard a paramedic trying to help a man was spat in the face. The defendant - Steven Woods (33) with an address at Lower Regent Street Belfast - also spat at a police officer.

He was sentenced on charges of assault, assault on police and failing to provide a specimen.

A prosecutor told Antrim Magistrates Court, sitting in Ballymena, that at 9.40am on September 19 in 2021 police responded to a report of a single vehicle traffic collision at Largy Road, Crumlin. Officers found a BMW had crashed into a "security barrier" and the vehicle had significant damage.

Police located the defendant in the front passenger seat and suspected he had been the driver and had moved seats, the prosecutor said. Wood struggled with officers and spat at them, the court was told.

The prosecutor said the defendant appeared to have received injuries in the collision and was put in an ambulance to go to Antrim Area Hospital. Enroute to the hospital Woods "spat in the face" of a paramedic "whilst being treated for his injuries".

The defendant admitted the assaults when interviewed by police, the court was told. A defence barrister said the defendant had been "abusing alcohol and drugs since his teenage years" but is "currently free" from both.

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District Judge Nigel Broderick told the defendant, who had 57 previous convictions, that spitting, "especially at public servants," was "disgusting". He said there was no evidence the spit hit the police officers on their faces but Woods had spat directly in the face of the paramedic.

The judge said the defendant spat three or four times at the paramedic who used a cloth to try to block the spit after it first landed.

Judge Broderick said courts "will not tolerate members of the emergency services and that includes paramedics, being subject to this foul and disgusting behaviour. Clearly this was disgraceful behaviour".

As well as the four months jail term the defendant, who the judge said had a "poor criminal record for drunk driving," was also banned from driving for four years.

Bail was fixed for appeal in the sum of £500.