The husband of a pub landlady set a fire outside the bar while customers including children were in the premises. Peter Evans torched a bag of rubbish that was against the door of the public house after being thrown out for assaulting his wife. The alarm was raised when people in the bar smelled smoke and a customer and a member of staff were able to put out the fire before it took hold.
Brian Simpson, prosecuting, told Swansea Crown Court that on the evening of November 19 last year Evans began verbally abusing his wife and calling her a "slag" and asking: "Who are you shagging today?" He was thrown out of the pub and the door was locked behind him. But he climbed back in through the lounge window and grabbed the partner by the throat and pushed her against the wall causing scratch marks on her neck. Following the incident his partner pushed the 44-year-old defendant out of the pub.
The court heard that 10 minutes after the assault the smell of smoke became apparent in the pub and a burning bag of rubbish was found outside the front door. A customer and a member of staff stamped out the fire but not before "charring" had been caused to the door. The prosecutor said there had been a number of people in the pub at the time of the incident including the young children of one of the customers who were upstairs watching television.
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The police were called and an intoxicated Evans was found at an address in the village at just after 12.30am and arrested. The court heard that at the time of the arson attack the defendant had been on police bail having been arrested over an alleged assault which ultimately had not resulted in charges.
Peter Evans, of Arfryn, Upper Brynamman, Ammanford, admitted battery and arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has six previous convictions for 12 offences including common assault, public order matters, criminal damage, breach of restraining orders, and four assaults by beating. The victims of batteries include a previous partner as well as his current partner in an assault which had seen him smash a window and push the woman's face into the broken glass. He was subject to a 14-week suspended prison sentence for that attack at the time he torched the pub door. The court heard the landlady of the pub had not provided a victim impact statement.
Giles Hayes, for Evans, said the defendant had been addicted to alcohol for many years as a result of "childhood trauma" and was a man who "clearly has a lot of work to do" to tackle the problem. He said the defendant's wife was in court in support of her husband and he said Evans hoped that the couple's relationship could "progress in a positive way".
Judge Catherine Richards said Evans' previous domestic violence offending was of concern and she said the fact the defendant had been on police bail and was intoxicated at the time of the arson, along with the location of the incident, were aggravating factors. With a one-third discount for his guilty pleas Evans was sentenced to 16 months in prison comprising two months in prison for the battery and 16 months for the arson to run concurrently. The judge activated 10 weeks of the previously-imposed suspended sentence, and ordered it to run concurrently with the 16 month sentence. Evans will serve up to half the sentence in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.
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