Man avoids jail for homophobic threats
A man who smashed the door of a gay couple and threatened to kill them has escaped jail.
The South Wales Echo reports that 22-year-old Nathan Dally shouted: “I’m going to kill you, you faggots” as he kicked down the door of Daniel Smith and Gary Samuel’s house in Rhondda, south Wales, as they slept.
He then climbed the stairs to their bedroom and tried to break down the interior door as they called 999. He left the house only after they hit him with a hockey stick.
Judge David Wyn Morgan told Dally: “It is one thing to shout outside someone’s house and it is another to smash the door down.
“Whatever your views about homosexuality, the fact of the matter is that you were shouting homophobic abuse.
“If you had been in trouble before, I would send you to prison.”
He sentenced Dally to 200 hours’ community service and ordered him to pay Rhondda council £250 for the damage to the door, £500 to his victims, plus £250 costs.
Chris Howells, defending, said: “This is an offence that wasn’t motivated by homophobia. This incident is completely out of character for that defendant.
“The reason why he put himself in this position was because he consumed too much alcohol. He is ashamed of what he has done.”
Dally claimed he had gone to the property to find the address of someone who had allegedly attacked his friend Aled Hill.
