A Belfast man has been convicted of assaulting an elderly neighbour by using his belly to "bounce" her away from his home. Morrison Wilson (58) claimed he was simply trying to get the pensioner out of his garden path during a dispute.
Belfast Magistrates Court heard the woman suffered injuries when she fell during the incident in October 2013.
Wilson, of Rotterdam Court in the city, denied a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. Although he was acquitted of that offence a judge found him guilty of a lesser common assault. Wilson claimed the victim had been aggressive and “sticking her nose in” as he spoke to a motorist outside his home. He told Belfast Magistrates’ Court: “With my big belly, because she was flailing her hands about, I just bounced her back.” According to his account she fell backwards, landing on her tail bone area.
He also claimed fertiliser was flung at him after the fall. Questioned by the prosecution about his claim to have bounced his neighbour, Wilson replied: “What am I going to do? Grab her with my belly?” He added: “She was very aggressive, she wasn’t getting her own way... and I knew what was coming next.”
Following a contested hearing District Judge Ken Nixon dismissed the assault occasioning actual bodily harm charge. But he ruled: "On an admission in terms of the defendant's own evidence there is a conviction of [common] assault."
Wilson will return to court to be sentenced next month.