A customer who strangled a bar worker while she was serving in a Spalding pub was given a suspended jail sentence on Thursday.
Iuri Rodrigues (24) lent over the bar and grabbed the woman by the throat while she was working in The Punchbowl on December 14 last year.
Lincoln Crown Court heard the incident began when Rodrigues offered his bank card to the bar worker and pulled it away on three occasions in what at first appeared to be a joke.
In an impact statement, which was read out in court, the victim described how Rodrigues suddenly grabbed her throat when she finally took his bank card.
She explained: “Even though this happened six months ago I can still remember the fear and panic when I realised I could not breathe.”
The woman said the attack impacted her both physically and financially as it led to her leaving the job.
Rodrigues, of Woolram Wygate, Spalding, admitted a charge of intentional strangulation on December 14, 2024.
Leanne Summers, mitigating, said Rodrigues accepted his behaviour was “unpleasant and scary” for the victim but argued it was a “fleeting incident.”
“It did not last very long,” Miss Summers claimed.
Miss Summers told the court Rodrigues was also the primary carer for his mother and on the night of the offence was drinking too much after she was placed in a care home.
Passing sentence, Recorder Rupert Jones told Rodrigues he had watched the footage and he could see him strangling the victim for a “couple of seconds.”
Recorder Jones said there was no malice when the bar worker took his bank card and she was only reacting to his joking around.
“You reacted by grabbing her throat with one hand,” Recorder Jones explained.
“She says you squeezed it and made it difficult for her to breathe. When she asked you to stop you squeezed harder.”
Rodrigues was sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment suspended for 12 months.
He must also obey a night time curfew between 10pm and 5am for 12 weeks.
