A FURIOUS 72-year-old broke a homeless man's nose and attacked him with a "small" knife for using a bus without paying.

The incident on October last year saw Dalton Richards, of no fixed abode, attack the victim on a bus at Basildon Bus Station.

A homeless man got on the bus without paying and was ignored the bus driver before sitting down.

Richards took umbrage to this and got into an argument which led to a fight as the victim was punched and his face slashed with a small ‘pen knife’.

He was charged with wounding or inflecting grievous bodily harm without intent and appeared in Basildon Crown Court on November 16 for sentencing.

Rachel Law, prosecuting, said: “As the two men argued, the defendant got up and approached the victim at the back of the bus with his hands raised in a boxing pose.

“The two started throwing punches for a few seconds and this part of the incident ends when the defendant fell backwards onto a seat.

READ MORE:

> Basildon attack sees two men arrested on suspicion of GBH

> Basildon ‘road rage’ probe sees two re-bailed again

“They remained separated for a few moments before the defendant got up to approach the victim again who was shouting at him halfway down the bus.

“He pulled out a small knife attached to his keys from his jacket and lunged towards the victim’s face, catching him a few times.”

During the fracas Richards also bit the victim in the arm, the victim sustained a 10cm cut to the forehead and 1cm cuts to his chin, as well as a broken nose.

Another passenger pulled Richards away from the victim and he headed towards the front of the bus to wait for police before he was arrested.

Cyrus Shroff, mitigating, said: “Mr Richard’s early pleas shows he has accepted his actions were unacceptable despite what he felt were good intentions initially.

“Mr Richards acted so irrationally because he was obviously affected by a young male who behaved badly prior to getting onto the bus and was abusive when on it.

“They were both fighting each other and Mr Richards ended up with injuries himself, additionally the man who broke up the fight heard the victim say ‘that’s it you’re done, you’ll get done for GBH.’

His Honour Judge Andrew Hurst handed Richards an eight-month sentence suspended for 12 months with a 40-day rehabilitation activity requirement, a tagged curfew from 6am to 6pm for three months and he is ordered to pay £225 to the victim.