The victim of an assault in Penryn one night remembered very little of it apart from thinking someone had kicked him like a football, Truro magistrates heard.

His injuries were caused following an argument between him and another man who had accused him of making excessive noise.

Ryan Oliver Renton, aged 19, of Greenwood Road, Penryn, pleaded guilty to being concerned with another person in assaulting Daniel Manderfield at Penryn on May 12.

Graham Calderwood, for the CPS, said the victim did not remember a great deal of what happened but had been approached by a person and then woke up in an ambulance.

A witness had heard Mr Manderfield being asked to keep the noise down and then Renton asked him to be quiet, and they argued before Renton punched the other man in the face, knocking him to the floor. While he was down, Renton kicked him in the back three to five times while he was lying on his side.

“The victim thought someone had stamped on him and kicked him rather like a football,” said Mr Calderwood. After that, another person had kicked him in the ribs once or twice.

Renton had previous convictions.

John Boyle, for Renton, said he had been drinking that evening with a friend, and accepted there had been confrontation between him and the victim in the street. “He thought he was going to be punched by this man and he threw the first punch himself, sending the victim to the floor.”

Mr Boyle said his client had had great difficulty in coming to terms with the fact that he had kicked the victim while he was on the ground, and would not dream that he would kick someone in that way. He was really sorry and ashamed.

The court heard that Jermaine Hart, the other man involved in the incident, and co-defendant of Renton, had pleaded guilty at another court to assault and was given a curfew for ten weeks with a drink banning order and |compensation to pay.

Renton was told to attend a |senior attendance centre and pay £100 compensation.