A THUG who spat at a shop worker and attacked a customer must pay compensation to his victims.
Antonio Barbieri, 25, of Penhill Drive, pleaded guilty to two assaults when he appeared at Swindon Magistrates Court.
Pauline Lambert, prosecuting, explained the facts of the case.
She said: "At 1.30pm on January 13, at Liquor World in Pinehurst, he was with a woman in the shop and clearly intoxicated.
"He became aggressive with the shop worker, leaned over the counter and spat in his face.
"He left the store and saw a man he knows outside, then followed him back inside.
"The woman tried to hold him back as he approached the man and punched him in the face.
"He admitted what he did in interview and said he was really drunk, doesn't remember much of it, and is ashamed of himself."
Barbieri has a long criminal record which includes drug possession, battery, criminal damage, and using a fake gun in an assault and attempted robbery of a pizza delivery driver.
Evidence from the shop worker stated that Barbieri thought the worker was smiling at him and, when the worker denied this, he started swearing and shouting at him.
There were children in the shop at the time and the worker felt scared.
The worker had never been spat at by a customer before and was disgusted, so he pressed a panic button once Barbieri left the shop.
A statement from the assaulted man explained that he went to the same school as his attacker, which is how they knew each other, but he hadn't seen him since a disagreement during a night out in 2016.
The victim said that, while in the shop, he heard a voice behind him that said his name and asked why he was smiling, then he was punched in the right cheek.
The attacker then grabbed the victim by the neck and tried to bite his ear, but the victim managed to pull away from Barbieri just as the yob got the ear in his mouth.
Barbieri, representing himself in court, said: "I was extremely drunk on that day and acted out of order.
"I've got a lot of history with the victim, he didn't go to my school, he was several years older than me and he was never very nice, he was a bit of a boy, you know.
"I confronted him and I shouldn't have.
"The good news is I'm off the drink and this is the only thing I have left hanging over me.
"I'm working full-time to support my four kids and I'm paying my fines."
He will pay £100 in compensation to the shop worker, £50 to the man he punched, £85 in costs and £85 to victim services.
He also had a community order with 80 hours of unpaid work and 20 rehab activity days that include sessions for anger management and alcohol addiction.
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