East Malling man pleads guilty to violent incident
29th October 2022
Daniel Colegate, of Addison Close, East Malling pleaded guilty to two counts of assault by beating of an emergency worker. He received a community order of 15 months, including 200 hours of unpaid work, after appearing at Maidstone Crown Court.
He had been charged together with Kalvin Stemp, from Maidstone, who bit through a police officer’s ear during a violent struggle, and was sentenced to more than three years’ imprisonment. Stemp also bit the officer’s arm and spat at him, as he resisted attempts to arrest him for drug offences in Maidstone town centre. Stemp had been approached by two uniformed officers, who were on patrol and smelled cannabis, during the evening of 6 November 2021. The officers informed Stemp that he was being detained for a drugs search, but the situation quickly escalated into violence as he tried to flee the scene.
When officers tried to restrain Stemp, Colegate was among others at the scene who pushed, kicked and punched the officers in an effort to help him escape.
The two officers were heavily outnumbered and Stemp used distractions caused by his associates’ aggressive behaviour to violently headbutt one of the officers, before lunging at him and biting through his right ear. Stemp, Colegate and another associate, Andrew Smith, ran from the scene but were tracked down and arrested on 8 and 9 November.