A man from Dawlish has been ordered to pay compensation to a club customer who he kicked in the head in full view of door staff.
Ian Mitchell’s attack was described as savage by one bouncer who was so shocked by the violence that he gave up door work.
Scaffolder Mitchell carried out the attack in Dawlish in 2018 and was spared an immediate jail sentence at Exeter Crown Court because he has turned his life around in the intervening three years.
He left the victim with the three centimetre cut to his head which had to be glued in hospital.
Mitchell, aged 39, of Linden Close, Dawlish, admitted causing actual bodily harm and was jailed for nine months, suspended for two years by Judge Robert Linford.
He was ordered to pay £500 compensation, do six days of rehabilitation activities and attend a thinking skills course.
The judge told him: ‘You went outside and delivered a savage couple of kicks to a man. I have dealt with cases in which people who behaved in that way have killed another member of the community.
‘It was an extremely dangerous assault that you committed and you will need to be very careful in the future. Your previous record does you no credit.
‘However, this happened a long time ago and you have a young family to look after.’
Miss Mary McCarthy, prosecuting, said the attack happened in May 2018 after the victim was ejected from a club and followed out by Mitchell, who kicked him in the head.
A doorman said he had to give up work because he was haunted by the sound of the kicks landing. He believed that if door staff had not intervened, the victim could have been killed.
She said Mitchell has convictions for 21 previous offences including seven for violence.
Mr William Parkhill, defending, said Mitchell has used the three and a half year delay in the case coming to court to turn his life around.
He has regular work as a scaffolder, stopped drinking, and has a five-week-old child.