A teenager who bottled a man in the face at the Romford dogs track walked free from court today after insisting he acted in self-defence.
Sam Chew, 19, left Robert Lewis with a fractured nose and blood streaming down his face after the incident in the Coral Romford Greyhound Stadium, in London Road .
He told jurors that Mr Lewis was the aggressor, called his female friends “slags” and grabbed a bottle which forced him to defend himself and a 17-year-old girl.
Mr Lewis himself admitted in court that he had raised his voice and became “aggressive” during the row.
“One of the girls came up to me and called me a d***head. She was just shouting at me”, he said.
“When they came across to me calling me names, yes I did raise my voice and get aggressive.”
Chew breathed a sigh of relief as he was cleared by the Old Bailey jury after four hours deliberation, at the end of a two day trial.
He had hit Mr Lewis on the bridge of his nose with the bottle in the incident on October 5 last year.
He was arrested at the scene but told police immediately that he acted in self-defence because Mr Lewis had picked up a bottle.
He also suggested that Mr Lewis called his teenage friends “slags”.
Chew, of Westrow Drive, Barking, denied wounding with intent and unlawful wounding.
He was acquitted on both counts.
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