A MAN who threw a cup of coffee in another man’s face in Weymouth town centre has been made the subject of a community order.

Luke Joseph Sibley Hawker, 24, appeared at Dorchester Crown Court to be sentenced after being found guilty of a charge of assault following a trial.

The offence related to an incident outside McDonald’s in St Mary Street shortly after 7am on November 27 last year.

The jury in Hawker’s trial was told two groups of young men who had been out drinking ended up in the fast food outlet and there was banter between the two groups.

As one group left the restaurant Hawker, of East Road, Bridport, left his group and followed them outside.

He then threw a cup of coffee into the face of Callum Bigg and punched him to the back of the head.

Mr Bigg did not recollect much of the incident, although he recalled having coffee thrown in his face and suffered no serious injuries as a result of the assault.

Lee Christmas, mitigating, said Hawker now accepted the jury’s verdict and responsibility for the offence.

He said: “He now accepts his guilt as a result of the jury’s verdict and he accepts he was in the wrong.”

Mr Christmas said his client had no previous convictions and was held in high regard by those who knew him. Judge Roger Jarvis sentenced Hawker to a 12-month community order, with a three-month curfew order and a requirement to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work in the community.

He told the defendant: “You chose to escalate what was no more than a relatively minor disagreement into violence. You left McDonald’s and I’m quite sure that you took the cup of coffee with you effectively to use to throw at your victim.

“You would have known this was a hot cup of coffee and yet you threw it straight into Mr Bigg’s face and when he turned away you struck him to the back of the head.

“The public are heartily fed up with violence in public places. It is usually by young men and more often than not when they are in drink.”