A MAN from Deganwy who caused more than £1,000 of damage to an ambulance at Glan Clwyd Hospital, Bodelwyddan was ordered to pay compensation and a fine.
Leon Gillespie, 22, of Station Road, also told those in his vicinity at the hospital that they were “all going to die” after being told of delays upon his arrival.
Gillespie had arrived at Glan Clwyd Hospital after suffering what he described as a homophobic attack, in which he was “viciously assaulted”.
At Llandudno Magistrates’ Court on March 1, he was fined £200, and told to pay £1,279.54 in compensation.
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The attack on Gillespie happened during a night out in Rhyl on August 6, and when he arrived at the hospital, he was informed that there would be a long waiting time.
Intoxicated, Gillespie began to shout while spitting blood, before kicking the wing mirror of an ambulance, causing £1,279.54 of damage to it.
A witness asked Gillespie what he was doing and had to restrain him, while he was also heard to have shouted: “Do you know who my dad is? I’ll get my phone and phone the gypsies.”
Hospital staff called the police, who arrested and cautioned Gillespie, who said he took his anger out on the vehicle and kicked it deliberately.
Gillespie sustained a broken jaw as a result of the attack in Rhyl, and he spent three days in hospital while he underwent surgery.
He was said to have suffered post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from this attack, exacerbating the “extreme difficulties” he faces with his mental health.
The court heard that he accepts that he “behaved appallingly” at the hospital.
Though he received a suspended sentence later in August for a shoplifting offence, Gillespie was said to have “stayed out of trouble” since the incident in question.
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