A 46-YEAR-OLD man who assaulted two female police officers while he was out on bail has avoided going to jail after seeking help for his alcohol addiction.

Martin Logan, of Drumbawn Close, Drumclay, Enniskillen, pleaded guilty to two counts of assaulting police on May 3, 2016.

At his sentencing on Monday, Fermanagh Magistrates Court heard that, at 7.45pm, police attended an address at Carnmore Rise for enquiries, and found the defendant sitting on a sofa in the living room.

Logan was breaching several bail conditions by being there, the court heard. Under the terms previously imposed on him, the defendant had been banned from entering the estate and from having any contact with the female who lived at the address.

He also appeared to have been drinking, which was a further breach of his bail. After he was arrested by the officers for the breaches, Logan became “verbally abusive”.

He pushed the officers in an attempt to remain in the house and, as they made efforts to restrain him, he then pulled away and waved his arms around “violently”.

During the ensuing struggle, he pushed one of the officers in the chest and injured another officer’s thumb as he was being handcuffed.

When he was being escorted to the police vehicle outside, he again pushed back towards the property. However, when he was subsequently cautioned with the offences the defendant replied: “I’m sorry.”

Defending counsel, Ciaran Roddy, admitted that the courts did not tolerate either assaults on police officers doing their duty or assaults on females.

In this case, the barrister conceded that his client had committed a “double whammy”.

Mr Roddy told the court that the defendant had been present in the house on the evening in question as a “welcome guest” and there had been no particular event that had caused the police to come to the scene.

Describing Logan as an “alcoholic” who struggled through life, the barrister said that he was now taking steps to deal with his issues and was at the start of a very long process.

He added that his client had an upcoming appointment with an addictions counsellor at the South West Acute Hospital.

Mr Roddy said that the defendant accepted that he was an individual who did not help himself.

In mitigation, the barrister said Logan had entered early guilty pleas and had not committed any other assaults since 1991.

District judge, Peter King, observed that the defendant had 18 previous convictions, but added that there had been a “significant gap” in this sort of behaviour.

“This was an unusual offence for you,” the judge said. Taking into account the mitigating factors, Mr King said he would impose a sentence that wouldn’t keep the defendant away from hospital. Handing down a three-month jail term, the judge then suspended it for 18 months. He added that the period of suspension wouldn’t have been as long if the defendant hadn’t offended on bail, which he said was an aggravating factor that the courts took seriously.