A MAN has been handed a community order after punching a woman to the floor in a Wrexham town centre assault.

Deividas Cerniauskas, 22, of Cunliffe Street, admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm against Sharon Skimmings in the early hours of September 8 last year. The incident, which happened on the High Street at around 1.20am, was spotted by CCTV operators and Cerniauskas was arrested at the scene shortly after. During a police interview, the defendant told officers how the victim had subjected him to abusive comments.

Justin Espie, prosecuting, told Mold Magistrates Court that Ms Skimmings had been out socialising with friends and had been walking alone along the High Street when she became aware of an unknown female close by.

She then described how a male appeared on the scene and that he was ranting and raving and the next thing she can remember is waking up in a wheelchair.

In the CCTV footage, which was shown to the court, Ms Skimmings can be seen arguing with Cerniauskas, and just moments after she could be seen pushing him, he punched her once in the face with his right hand and she went crashing to the floor.

As she hit the pavement, she landed on a glass bottle, which smashed underneath her.

The victim was taken to the Wrexham Maelor hospital where she was treated for a lacerated wound to her eyebrow, cuts and bruises to her hands as well as complaining of chest pains.

In a personal impact statement read out to the court, Ms Skimmings said the attack had left her feeling too nervous to go out on her own and how she was now too scared to work of a night during the darker, winter months.

Stephen Edwards, defending, said that his client had now been before the courts three times over this incident, with the first two occasions unable to conclude due to the lack of a professional interpreters being available to translate the proceedings.

He said how the defendant had never been in trouble with the police before, either in this country or in his native Lithuania, and had done well in school, passing his home nation’s equivalent of A-levels.

He left Lithuania for work and had been working in a factory during his time living in Wrexham.

Mr Edwards said the incident had clearly been “nasty and unpleasant” and although he had been provoked by the victim, Cerniauskas knew his reaction to it could never be justified.

Magistrates told Cerniauskas that they accepted that there had been a certain amount of provocation, but that his punch in response to it had been “violent”.

He was ordered to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work and must pay his victim £150 in compensation, while also complete 10 days of rehabilitation activity with the probation service.

He must also pay court costs of £85 and a surcharge of £90.