Northampton man spared jail after going on two drunken rampages at hospital - including spitting in police officer's face

A Northampton man was spared jail after a string of drunken offences including spitting in the face of a police officer during the coronavirus pandemic.

Stoian Veaceslav assaulted two guards, a police officer and a nurse at Northampton General Hospital and crashed his car while intoxicated in two separate incidents last year.

The 29-year-old, of Gordon Street, was given a 10-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, at Northampton Crown Court on Tuesday (August 24) having pleaded guilty to all charges.

Her Honour Judge Rebecca Crane told him: "You were aggressive and abusive. You spat in the face of a police officer, that's a particularly disgusting and worrying act in the midst of the Covid pandemic and the risk of transmission."

Veaceslav's first incident began when he was taken to hospital at around 4.30am on September 6, 2020, after being found unconscious on Bridge Street, prosecutor Abigail Hill said.

A nurse tried to wake him up to assess the defendant and his response was to grab three of her fingers and bend them back painfully despite her repeated pleas for him to stop.

She managed to pull herself away and called security, one of whom tried to talk to him in Romanian and translate for the doctor, but Veaceslav just verbally abused him.

"He was clearly drunk as he was slurring his words and was unable to support his own weight," Ms Hill said.

The guard tried to reposition the defendant but he threw a shoe at them so they restrained him and he was tranquilized.

However that did not stop Veaceslav as went into the foyer shouting and swearing and lashing out with his arms, kicking over a medical cart, which narrowly missed a nurse.

Two guards restrained the defendant but he dropped his weight and they all collapsed on the floor, where he kicked out and tried to spit on them.

Police arrived soon afterwards and tried to calm Veaceslav down by taking him outside but to no avail so he was put in their van, where he exposed his anus on the cell door.

Ms Hill read out a statement from one of the guards, who suffered bruising to his ribs and chest and damaged cartilage in his knee during the fracas.

He was off work for three months because of the physical and mental injuries and discomfort but he eventually left altogether after trying to come back part-time.

"In his words: not once in any of my past careers have I ever experienced an incident so traumatic and distressing. It has caused me to leave a dream job," she said.

The second incident was on November 19, 2020, when police officers came across a BMW car which had crashed into traffic lights on Wellingborough Road at the junction of Abington Park Crescent at 2.20am.

Veaceslav was in the driver seat showing signs of being drunk - he failed a breathalyzer test and police found he had no licence or insurance so he was arrested.

The defendant urinated in the back of the police car before he was taken to hospital as the airbags had been deployed in his car.

There Veaceslav's behaviour was aggressive and erratic as well as swearing and shouting before spitting in the police officer's face.

The defendant was then taken to the police station where he gave a breathalyzer test of 90 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath - nearly three times over the legal limit.

Michael Cogan, defending, said: "He wants me to offer his sincere apologies to everybody involved.

"He is, sober may not been the right word, he's sat back to reflect on what he did. He understands fully the implications for those he assaulted."

Mr Cogan said Veaceslav turned to alcohol to deal with losing his job as a painter during the coronavirus pandemic and not being able to see his wife and two children in Moldova.

That was the reason for these offences but ever since the defendant has addressed his addiction through a course in Moldova and stayed out of trouble.

Mr Cogan added that his client has a Moldovan driving licence but did not realise he needed to get a British one nor insurance to drive in the UK.

As well as the suspended sentence, Veaceslav was ordered to complete 100 hours of unpaid work and 10 rehabilitation activity requirement days and disqualified from driving for 18 months.