Nicholas Preece, 18, had been drinking alcohol and snorting cocaine since just after midday when he ran into a young family about 11.45pm last Friday in Sydney’s CBD
A former private schoolboy who kicked a sleeping toddler in the face and then ran off has been slammed by a magistrate as ‘shameful’, ‘disgraceful’ and as a ‘coward’.
Nicholas Preece, 18, had been drinking alcohol and snorting cocaine since just after midday when he ran into a young family about 11.45pm last Friday in the middle of Sydney’s CBD.
The Shore school graduate – who finished at the $30,000-a-year institution in 2016 – repeatedly asked the three-year-old’s boy’s father ‘hey, can I look in your pocket?’, a court heard.
The family said ‘no’ and kept walking – trying to ignore him – before Preece claimed ‘my address is in your pocket’.
The carpenter then stepped in front of the father and ‘kicked across him with his right leg, his right foot connecting with (the child’s) head as he sat in the pram’.
The toddler woke up, started crying, with a bleeding and swollen top lip, the court facts said, and was taken to the Sydney Eye Hospital for treatment.
His girlfriend sobbed as the magistrate handed him a two year good behaviour bond – with the special condition he not consume alcohol or illicit substances whatsoever in that time
A mother and father were walking along King Street (pictured) with their son in a pram and their other child when they were approached by Nicholas Preece
Preece ran away, the father giving chase, while the boy’s mother rang the police.
Preece was spotted by a security guard near Martin Place who called police because he was acting strange and screaming loudly.
When police finally arrested him, he claimed he had come into the city from Manly Vale to attend a work function with his mates.
He said he then went to a hotel room where he ‘only consumed a maximum of three alcoholic beverages over the entire time and consumed no illicit drugs’.
He also denied he actually kicked the kid in the face, despite holding a black, smashed iPhone and with his arm in a cast, as the family had described him.
Mr Preece’s lawyer, Daniel Wilson, told Central Local Court on Wednesday that his client hadn’t been taking the truth about his drug habits to police.
Police prosecutors described it as a ‘serious’ and ‘unprovoked attack’ on a small child. Preece is pictured above on right with Santa
Preece (not pictured) was spotted near Martin Place and arrested
Police prosecutors described it as a ‘serious’ and ‘unprovoked attack’ on a small child, with Mr Wilson admitting it was a reckless assault.
He pleaded guilty and wrote a letter of apology to the court but Magistrate Megan Greenwood said she was not totally convinced he was remorseful.
‘This is shameful behaviour on your part,’ she said, after describing the crime. She said he then did ‘what any coward does, sir, you ran away’.
The magistrate said she had seriously considered a prison sentence and criticised Preece for telling the court in a letter of apology he would not ‘abuse’ alcohol or drugs again.
‘I would have thought … the shame, the horror at what you’ve done would be such that you would never touch them again’.
‘You can say it’s drugs and alcohol and you have no memory.
He pleaded guilty at the Central Local Court on Monday and was sentenced to a good behaviour bond on the spot
‘Who consumed the alcohol?
‘Did anyone force you?
‘Did anyone hold you down and force you to take these substances?
‘No. You took them, and you’re old enough to know better.
‘It is disgraceful behaviour on your part.’
His girlfriend sobbed as the magistrate handed him a two year good behaviour bond – with the special condition he not consume a drop of alcohol or illicit substances of any kind or find himself back in court.
The police facts said he is currently under bail restrictions for a previous incident of alleged grievous bodily harm which is before the courts.
Preece spent three days in custody but will spend Christmas with his family.