A man who deliberately coughed on three police officers as he was being cautioned for breaching the COVID-19 lockdown measures has been jailed for seven months.
33-year-old Drago Marchidan, from Birmingham, pleaded guilty at the first hearing at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday 31st March to three separate counts of assaulting an emergency worker.
He was sentenced on Tuesday 28th April at Birmingham Crown Court.
On Saturday 29th March, police officers had been tipped off about a house party that was being held in breach of social distancing rules which are designed to help save lives.
Officers attended the property and found approximately 20 adults partying at the location. They were all drinking alcohol as loud music bellowed from the address.
Police advised the occupants to leave the address, and as they started to do so, Marchidan began to deliberately cough in the direction of the police officers.
He smirked at the officers as he coughed on them.
Officers initially warned Marchidan about his behaviour to give him a chance to stop. But he ignored their pleas and continued to cough on them as he left the property.
He was then arrested for assaulting an emergency worker.
The judge sentenced Marchidan to seven months in prison for the first incident involving the coughing, and four months for the other two incidents to run concurrently.
The case follows Director of Public Prosecutions Max Hill QC’s announcement that anyone using coronavirus to threaten emergency and essential workers would face criminal charges.
Robert Glenn, Senior Crown Prosecutor with CPS West Midlands, said:
“This is unacceptable behaviour, and people who choose to assault emergency workers should know that they will not get away with it.
“Our emergency workers should be able to carry out their jobs without being assaulted or put at risk.
“Dragos Marchidan will now pay for his crime with a criminal record and custodial sentence.”
If you would like to help support our in-house team of former emergency services, NHS and armed forces personnel, then please consider becoming a donor.
With ad revenue continually fluctuating, we need the help of our readers and supporters to ensure that we can continue to bring you the stories which matter in a non-biased and non-inflammatory way.
Our Editor & Founder will send a personal email to donors, thanking them for their generosity.
Before you go...
WE NEED YOUR HELP. As former emergency services & armed forces personnel, we pride ourselves on bringing you important, fast-moving and breaking news stories & videos which are free from the negative 'anti' bias which is often directed at the emergency services & NHS by some sections of the mainstream media.
One of the reasons we started 'Emergency Services News' back in 2018 was because we became tired of reading badly informed stories about the emergency services.
We want to be the unheard voice of the remarkable men and women who serve in the emergency services, NHS and armed forces. And with around 500k page views each month, we are getting there!
As income from ads, the mainstay source of income for most publishers, continues to decline; we need the help of you, our readers.
You can support emergency services news from as little as £1. It only takes a minute. Every contribution, however big or small, is vital for our future.
Please help us to continue to highlight the life-saving work of the emergency services, NHS and armed forces by becoming a supporter.
I have said before and i will repeat it . This evil individual should have the charge of Attempted Murder on his charge. He knows full well the effects Covid19 poses on those who have it and it is nothing but a life or death Virus. He should be made to suffer the consequences of his actions and his actions were to give this Deadly Virus to the Emergency services that were involved in his apprehension.