A drunk man who urinated on a sleeping homeless man as a joke has been jailed for eight weeks.
Richard Stanley woke up to discover Stephen Gibney urinating on his face and laughing following a night of drinking in Liverpool city centre.
A district judge said the crime was an act of gratuitous degradation and an attack on the victims home.
Gibney, 32, of Childwall, admitted assault by beating at Liverpool Magistrates Court.
Jane Stacey, prosecuting, told the court that just before 5am on 18 May, Richard Stanley was sleeping rough in the Whitechapel area when he woke to find Gibney and another man standing over him.
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She said: He opened his eyes and saw two men both laughing and realised the defendant was urinating on his face and his coat next to him and his worldly possessions.
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When the victim said he was about to call the police, Gibney said: Ill fight you right now. What are you going to do about it?
Gibney had no recollection of the incident after he was arrested at the scene then interviewed by police, the court heard.
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Sentencing, District Judge Wendy Lloyd said the offence was a deliberate act of degradation of a homeless person.
It was his home, his little pitch where he was trying to establish himself as a human being and a valuable human being just like everyone else.
He is in no way to be looked down upon, to be judged or dealt with in any lesser way than anyone else in society.
More: UK
This was this mans home where he was lying with his sleeping bag getting shelter.
Apparently, to you and your companion this was just a joke.
Keiran Fielding, defending, said Gibney had had a significant amount to drink but accepted his behaviour had been vile.
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