A man attacked a train conductor while live streaming it after he was told to get off the train for vaping.
The unprovoked attack happened after Stephen Weldon was confronted by a conductor after he was vaping on board a busy train.
A court heard how the 34-year-old Weldon, from Inniscarn Drive in Newtownabbey, County Antrim, dragged the conductor out of the train and smashed his face using his fists and feet.
In a bizarre move, the tattooed thug live streamed part of the attack, ending the video with ‘f****** motherf***** not so tough now.’
He appeared at Ballymena Magistrates Court in Northern Ireland today, where he abused the District Judge Nigel Broderick after he refused to grant him bail and he was taken away to the cells.
The attack happened shortly after the conductor saw him vaping on the train to Larne and told him he has to get off at the Magheramourne halt a few miles outside the harbour town, a detective constable told the court when objecting to Weldon being granted bail.
Weldon asked how he could get to work and the conductor told him to either get the bus or walk.
The conversation appeared to end in good terms as the two men ‘fist bumped.,’ MailOnline reports.
At Larne station, the conductor spotted a charger for a vaping device and went back to hand it to Weldon just as the train arrived back at the Magheramourne halt on the return journey.
But instead of a thank you, Weldon attacked him.
He kicked the victim until he fell into the doors behind him before he ‘dragged him off the train and assaulted him on the platform’ using both his feet and his fists, the court head.
The conductor said he was hit six or seven times to his head and face, the officer told the court.
He was able to get away, shouting at other passengers to call the police as he ran through the train until he got to the safety of the driver’s cabin.
Police arrived and arrested Weldon on the spot, and during enquiries they found he had ‘done a live stream’ during part of the assault.
The disturbing video showed Weldon stamping on the victim’s own phone, work phone and money bag while saying that the conductor was ‘talking tough and got his ass whooped.’
Weldon told his viewers ‘good luck and God bless’ before finishing the video with ‘f****** motherf***** not so tough now.’
In later interviews, Weldon said that he ‘saw red’ when he was faced with a 90-minute walk to get to work, adding that he feared he risked losing the job he had just started.
He admitted dragging the conductor off the train and accepted striking him, but he ‘denied assaulting him further,’ the detective said, adding that Weldon had said the victim’s ‘attitude wasn’t right.’
The detective added: ‘He was just trying to be the Alpha so the defendant showed him who was the big Alpha.’
Doctors feared the conductor had suffered a fractured jaw, but an X-ray revealed that although badly swollen, there was no fracture.
But five of his teeth were chipped and he was left with bruising and abrasions.
When refusing bail, the judge said we would usually consider the presumption of innocence but not in Weldon’s case since he made ‘full and frank admissions.’
He said that while the charges could be revised by the PPS, ‘what cannot be in dispute is the fact that this was an unwarranted assault on a public servant who was providing public transport.’
Judge Broderick said the ‘unprovoked, vindictive assault would have been a terrifying experience for the injured party’ and that, given Weldon’s relevant convictions for assault, ‘in my view you are not a suitable candidate for bail,’ MailOnline reports.
He was charged with attempted grievous bodily harm with intent, criminal damage to the victim’s mobile phone and criminal damage to a bag and mobile phone which belonged to the rail operating company Translink, all committed on May 8 this year, which Weldon confirmed he understood.
Police said they were concerned of witness interference, but defense counsel Neil Moore said given the fact that Weldon made admissions there was no basis for any such concerns.
Although Weldon was first charged with attempted GBH, his counsel was told ‘that will not be proceeded with and will be replaced by actual bodily harm,’ which meant the case would likely stay in the Magistrates Court and may not attract a jail sentence, Mr Moore argued.
The barrister continued: ‘His actions he accepts are completely improper.’
He added that with the job in Larne now likely lost Weldon had no need to be on a train so he could be freed on bail with conditions to assuage police concerns.
District Judge Broderick said, while the charge ‘may be reduced,’ he was of the view there ‘is a risk of further offences and a risk of an immediate custodial sentence but that remains to be seen’.
Remanding Weldon into custody, he adjourned the case until June 6.
After Weldon’s abuse, the judge added that if the defendant appealed the decision he wants the ‘High Court to be told of his attitude.’
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