A teenager's request for a light in a McDonald’s restaurant led to a punch which fractured his skull outside.
Chemical engineering student Caine Inyanga, 19, was not sent to prison for the attack, which knocked out its victim and left him suffering from tinnitus.
But the injured man Adam Turner does not bear any malice to his assailant - and even said he felt sorry for him.
The 19-year-old approved of Inyanga’s suspended sentence, with a four-month tagged curfew which forces him to stay indoors every night, 150 hours’ unpaid work and a £1,000 compensation order.
“I think the sentence is probably better than him going to actual prison,” Mr Turner said today.
He went to McDonald’s on North Ormesby Road, Middlesbrough after a night out in the early hours of October 10 last year.
He asked for a light from Inyanga, got no response, then asked the woman with him.
Inyanga, who had been drinking and taking drugs, demanded Mr Turner and his friend “get outside now”, said prosecutor Emma Atkinson.
They made it clear they did not want to fight, but he punched both of them, Teesside Crown Court heard.
The blow to Mr Turner caused him to fall to the floor and he lost consciousness.
He suffered hearing loss and tinnitus.
He said he was a huge music fan, the condition ruined his enjoyment of music, and he found if painful to be around loud noise.
Mr Turner told the Gazette: “I’m a passionate music fan so knowing that I wouldn’t be able to hear music in the way I did before is the worst thing you could probably do to me.
“It still affects me quite a lot, in every way really. Being a toolmaker, sound is part of my job as well.
“It’s got a lot better since hospital. It’s still not the same as it was.”
He said he remembered little of the assault: “I don’t go out to fight.
"I just go out to have a good time. I’d rather hug someone than fight them.
“I woke up in hospital getting told I was attacked. It left me wondering why. I was very confused.
“I remember waking up strapped down to a table with this horrible thing around my head, X-raying me. That petrified me.
“I woke up in the trauma ward and I was alone, just bawling my eyes out.”
His friend suffered bruising and swelling to his left eye.
Inyanga ran away after the assaults but handed himself in at Stockton police station when he learned of the seriousness of Mr Turner’s injuries.
He handed over his phone, in which a text message contained the phrase “battered for rudely interrupting”.
He told officers he was offended when the two men “came a bit too close” and Mr Turner was quoted as saying: “It’s a free country.”
He pleaded guilty to charges of inflicting grievous bodily harm and common assault - his first conviction.
Scott Taylor, defending, said: “Nothing could have been said that would have provoked the action that happened.
“He misread what was going on. Anything that followed was not the fault of the two injured parties.
“He has shown remorse. He asked that I pass on his sincere apologies to both individuals.
“He accepts that they in no way deserved what eventually came their way. He’s obviously petrified about going to custody.
“He’s never behaved like this before.”
Judge Howard Crowson said: “This is the tragedy of it. These are both placid men, neither of them violent.
“I’ve read references which express astonishment that you would have behaved like that at all,” he told Inyanga.
He said Inyanga’s state meant he was more irritated than normal with innocent requests, resulting in a terrible injury.
“You probably never intended any such harm, not that level,” he added.
He said Inyanga, who had bright prospects and was assessed to be a low risk of re-offending, expressed great regret and shock and admitted fault.
Prison would destroy Inyanga’s career, he said, losing him his university place and meaning he could not compensate the victim.
Given his youth, previous good character, guilty pleas and genuine remorse, he suspended the 16-month prison sentence for 18 months.
Mr Turner, who lives with his parents in Hartlepool, said outside court: “I did feel sorry for him when I got told he stood to lose his university place.”
He believed the sentence was more suitable than jail, saying of the curfew: “That would be horrible. That would be worse than prison.”
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