Glider attack: Man jailed for assaulting fellow passenger

The incident took place on a Glider bus in August (stock image)

A man who struck a passenger and knocked him off a bus in west Belfast has been jailed for four months.

The victim tried to calm Seamus McGranaghan down on the Glider service, but McGranaghan attacked him.

McGranaghan, of Doon Road in Belfast, also attempted to headbutt and bite police officers when they arrested him.

McGranaghan initially got off the Glider following a commotion in the Stewartstown Road on 17 August.

A Crown lawyer told Belfast Magistrates' Court the 40-year-old then returned to the vehicle and "struck a male passenger, causing both of them to fall off the bus".

McGranaghan then moved to the front of the vehicle, tried to punch the window and told the driver not to move.

The lawyer said the victim had intervened when McGranaghan started shouting at an older man on the Glider, causing a younger girl sitting nearby to become upset.

'Disgraceful incident'

The court heard police located and detained McGranaghan at a nearby pub, but he struggled and dropped to the ground when they tried to handcuff him.

The Crown lawyer said the defendant then sat up, attempted to headbutt one officer and bite another, before verbally abusing them.

McGranaghan pleaded guilty to common assault, attempted criminal damage to the bus, two assaults on police and resisting arrest.

His barrister acknowledged it was a "disgraceful incident" and said his client was "deeply embarrassed and ashamed of himself".

He said McGranaghan had "far too much to drink and lost his temper on the bus".

With McGranaghan currently serving a prison term for separate matters, the judge ordered him to serve four months in custody.