A teenager from Pembroke, who made an attempt on his own life, will reappear in court later this month after pleading guilty to assaulting two police officers during the incident.

Eighteen-year-old Thomas Daniel Kincaid Sheehan, of Strongbow Walk, pleaded guilty to assaulting officers PC Francis and PC Warren in the execution of their duty, when he appeared at Haverfordwest magistrates court on Tuesday.

Prosecutor Vaughan Pritchard-Jones told the court that police received a phone call on Friday, June 3, at around 10.30 pm, from Mr. Sheehan’s mother, who was concerned after her son had threatened to kill himself.

She explained that he had run off to the Mill Pond, but officers received further information that Mr. Sheehan had in fact gone to the Royal George and climbed up scaffolding on the side of the premises and was threatening to throw himself off.

“When the officers arrived at the scene, the defendant spat down on the street and was verbally abusive towards them,” explained Mr. Pritchard-Jones.

PC Francis entered the building to go to a higher floor to try to speak to Mr. Sheehan, whilst PC Warren climbed part of the scaffolding also to try and talk the defendant down.

“Mr. Sheehan climbed down part of the scaffolding, with PC Francis describing his body as tense, and that he looked upset and agitated,” continued Mr. Pritchard-Jones.

Officers could see the defendant was now crying and he told them “I’ll do it, I’ll kill myself, what have I got to lose.”

PC Warren was about to open the access gate to the scaffolding, when Mr. Sheehan ran towards him shouting “I want to die” before kicking the gate and catching the officer in the face.

Both officers manage to pin the defendant down and stop him from jumping off. Whilst the officers were on top of him, Mr. Sheehan pulled PC Francis’s hair.

Officers used PAVA spray on the defendant which had the desired effect and they were able to put handcuffs on him, before more officers arrived to assist with the arrest.

Crying, Mr. Sheehan told officers “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean anything I said, my head is gone.”

Defence solicitor Ruth Meyrick told the court that her client was a “dreadfully unhappy young man” who suffered with mental health and alcohol issues.

“He was in a distressed state and wanted to kill himself. His desire was to hurt himself and not the police officers,” she said, explaining that her client had been receiving counselling with Haven Way and was making an effort to get better.

Probation officer Julie Norman told the court that Mr. Sheehan, who had been given a suspended sentence in May, had spent a period of time in hospital detoxing, and had also been under the care of the community drug and alcohol team.

Magistrates said that they were very mindful of activating Mr. Sheehan’s suspended sentence order, but elected to adjourn the case until August 24, so that a full pre-sentence report could be presented by the probation service.