6ft 2in victim would have been a 'goner' if he had not put arms up to fend off hammer attack

A hammer attacker was warned he could have ended up in the dock for a homicide if his victim had not defended himself.

The 6ft 2in, heavily built victim said he would have been a “goner” if he had not put his arms up as Steven Bandeira swung a hammer at his head.

Teesside Crown Court heard how the victim was using his phone when drunken Bandeira knocked it out of his hand.

The men had words and swore at each other before Bandeira, 31, left the Ayresome Street and Ayresome Park Road junction in Middlesbrough.

He went home, returned with a 20-inch-long hammer and attacked the man with it, said prosecutor Harry Hadfield yesterday.

Bandeira tried to hit him over the head with the weapon, but the victim suffered only a bruised forearm as he protected himself and got hold of the hammer.

Bandeira bit his ear as they went to the ground grappling and struggling at about 6pm on June 28 last year.

The injured man later said the assault came “out of nothing” and escalated quickly.

He felt upset, scared and fearful walking in that area since.

Bandeira, of Bush Street, Linthorpe, Middlesbrough, denied attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent and having an offensive weapon.

He was convicted by a jury after a trial.

His record included assaults where he threw a glass tumbler in someone’s face and bit the leg of a shopkeeper, an affray involving a knife and a stick, and weapon offences.

Robert Mochrie, defending, said Bandeira’s behaviour was “completely unacceptable”.

But he argued it would be harsh to jail him for a very long time for causing injuries which were relatively slight.

He said the size of the victim had a bearing on why Bandeira took the weapon.

He told how Bandeira had qualifications and a job was still open to him.

He asked the judge to consider a suspended sentence, allowing him to go back to full-time work.

Judge Tony Briggs told Bandeira: “It’s fortunate for you that this particular matter ended with the relatively modest consequences that it did.

“Unhappily the actual situation facing him was you approached him with a large hammer in an effort to strike him over the head with it.

“It must have been a terrifying experience for him.

“I do bear in mind he was a large and powerfully built man and are relatively slightly built and on the relevant occasion you were under the influence of alcohol.

“If he had been unlucky it might have been a homicide charge.”

He said Bandeira’s offending had tailed off in recent times, but it was worrying that he had armed himself with weapons and the courts had dealt with him leniently.

He jailed Bandeira for two years and three months.