A neighbourhood dispute in Rothley turned violent when Joseph Ryan smashed a mug into his neighbour’s face during a fight.
Ryan, 25, was found guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm at Leicester Magistrates’ Court.
The self-employed refrigeration engineer appeared for sentencing on Monday, February 24.
He was handed a 12-month community order with 280 hours of unpaid work.
Mountsorrel Lane
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Ryan was also ordered to pay £650 court costs and a £114 victim surcharge.
The incident occurred in October 2023 on Mountsorrel Lane, where both men lived at the time.
Police arrived to find the two fathers still fighting in the street.
Ryan, who had two teeth knocked out during the altercation, has since moved away from the area to live with his grandmother.
The dispute began earlier that day when Ryan verbally abused his neighbour as the man walked to the shop with his children.
Prosecutor Ravinder Daroch told the court: “The defendant was laughing at him and being rude and they had a small verbal argument and the victim continued to the shop.”
Later, the situation escalated when both men’s partners began arguing.
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The women were shouting at each other from the windows of their homes.
The victim then asked Ryan to meet him outside to talk.
However, this conversation quickly turned physical.
Defence solicitor Jabeen Naru said her client had been living with his partner and their three-year-old son in Mountsorrel Lane at the time.
Following the incident, Ryan relocated to his grandmother’s home in Syston.
The confrontation quickly turned violent when the victim threw a mug at Ryan’s chest.
Ryan then picked up the mug from the ground and used it to strike his neighbour in the face.
This caused a cut to the victim’s forehead, resulting in a two-inch scar.
Leicester Magistrate’s CourtPAThe victim then retaliated, as prosecutor Daroch explained: “The victim smacked the defendant back in self-defence, causing him to fall and this scuffle continued while the police attended.”
Ryan’s defence argued the case on the basis of self-defence.
Ms Naru told the court: “There was a scuffle between both of them and [the victim] was on Mr Ryan’s property. Mr Ryan was chased by him around the vehicle that was on his drive.”
She added: “Mr Ryan was punched first. During the scuffle the mug has interacted with [the victim’s] forehead.”
The victim provided a statement nine months after the incident detailing ongoing effects of his injury.
“I’ve suffered severe headaches and been extremely forgetful, which I’ve never suffered from before,” he stated.
The chair of the bench, Jane Foster, acknowledged the severity of the case when sentencing Ryan.
She told him: “It wasn’t just a minor injury and our starting point is 36 weeks in custody.”
However, the magistrates took mitigating factors into account.
“We have taken into account the fact you have no previous convictions and there was a degree of provocation,” Foster added.
Ryan, who now lives in Northfields, Syston, avoided a custodial sentence.
The case highlights how quickly neighbourhood disputes can escalate into serious violence with lasting consequences.