Wellingborough man who beat child with phone charger ordered to pay him £500 compensation

A man who twice assaulted a teenage boy has been given a suspended prison sentence.

Dumitru Florin-Botarla, 38, appeared at Northampton Crown Court on Friday (September 3) to admit one charge of actual bodily harm and one of assault by beating.

The warehouse worker, of Park Mews, Wellingborough, pleaded guilty to the offences which happened on May 13 and 14 this year.

Recorder Michael Auty QC ordered that the boy's identity be kept under wraps to protect him.

The court heard how Botarla had begun to hit the child repeatedly with a phone charger after the boy had stepped in to defend another adult, who eventually managed to get in between them to stop the assault on the evening of May 13. The teen was left with several welts to his his arm.

Then, the following day, the defendant again attacked the youngster, hitting him with his hand in the face before the boy fell to the ground. He managed to get away and phone the police who arrested the defendant.

Sentencing, Recorder Auty said that he had given Botarla credit for his early guilty plea and acknowledged he was having a difficult time in his personal life at the time of the assault.

He said: "You could not complain if I sent you to prison today."

Botarla was given an 18 month suspended prison sentence, 240 hours of unpaid work and a rehabilitation requirement of 30 days. He was also told to pay the boy £500 in compensation.