Man head-butted officer and called police ‘Orange b********’ after being caught with Taser

Pierce Hardy was given a four-month suspended sentence and probation for his outbursts in two separate incidents.

The 27-year-old, of Harris Crescent in the Dunmurry area, admitted possessing a prohibited weapon, two assaults on police and two counts of disorderly behaviour.

Belfast Magistrates’ Court heard he was first arrested at Tates Avenue in the south of the city on November 25 last year.

Prosecutors said he disclosed to officers that he had a Taser in his pocket.

The item resembled a torch, emitted a bright light and had a button which made a crackling noise when tested.

As other officers arrived he started shouting “F*** you” and “Orange b*******”.

Hardy was arrested at that stage and taken into custody in a PSNI vehicle.

“He got out of the back seat and head-butted an officer to the forehead,” a Crown lawyer said.

“He was then restrained in the back of the police vehicle and bit the finger of another officer who had come to assist.”

In a separate incident last December police went to assist an ambulance crew dealing with an aggressive man at Whin Park, Dunmurry.

Hardy was said to have started shouting and swearing, threatening to head-butt anyone who came near him.

At one point he was bare-chested and told a police officer he would “knock his **** in”.

“He was sprayed with CS gas after a warning was ignored and he ran towards police with a clenched fists,” the prosecutor added.

Defence barrister Michael Boyd accepted the offences crossed the custody threshold, but stressed his client’s immediate guilty pleas.

He told the court Hardy resorted to alcohol and drugs when the ending of a relationship last October led to a “collapse” in his mental health.

“On both occasions he was just completely out of it,” counsel said.

“There is no excuse whatsoever for his behaviour. He is genuinely sorry for his conduct towards police.”

Based on submissions, District Judge Fiona Bagnall decided against sending Hardy to jail.

Instead, she imposed a total sentence of four months imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, and ordered him to complete 18 months probation.