A Monkton man charged with abusing two shop assistants has been ordered to pay £100 compensation to each of his victims.

Twenty-three-year-old Bryan Victor Evans, of Angle Road, appeared at Haverfordwest Magistrates Court on Tuesday, to face a charge of using threatening and abusive behaviour towards Joel Evans, with intent to cause that person to believe that immediate unlawful violence would be used against him; and using threatening and abusive behaviour towards Kirsty Roberts, with intent to cause harassment, on March 6.

Prosecutor Mr. Vaughan Pritchard-Jones told magistrates that the two complainants were working at the Spar store in Monkton, on a Friday evening, and cleaning up at around 10 pm, when the defendant came into the premises carrying a friend on his back.

“Mr. Evans was banned from the store anyway, and was asked to leave, but he ignored this request and made his way to the drinks aisle,” explained Mr. Pritchard-Jones.

“He was asked again to leave and was laughing at the two assistants, but when one of them told him that they were going to call the police, the defendant’s attitude changed and he became aggressive and started using foul and abusive language towards the shop workers,” he continued.

Frightened that Mr. Evans was going to assault one of them, the police were called, after which the defendant turned to the female complainant and told her that he was going to “beat up her father when he saw him.”

Police identified Mr. Evans from store CCTV footage and he voluntarily attended an interview, where he admitted that he had been “steaming drunk” on the night of the incident, as he’d attended his sister’s birthday party.

He also told police in the interview that “vodka was the devil in a bottle”.

Mr. Evans’s solicitor, Mr. Mike Kelleher, said his clien, who worked as a fisherman and also a labourer out of season, was ashamed of his behaviour and had told him that he hadn’t consumed any alcohol since the incident.

“This was very much a one-off incident. He has no idea why he was in the store anyway, as he has been banned from there since he was aged six,” Mr. Kelleher told the court.

Magistrates fined Mr. Evans £250 for each offence and ordered him to pay £100 compensation to each of his victims.

He was also ordered to pay costs of £85 and a £25 victim surcharge.