A SOLDIER training to go to Afghanistan was caught on CCTV assaulting a man in Weymouth town centre.

Stephen Brownlee, of the Queen’s Royal Hussars, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm but not guilty to attempting to cause grievous bodily harm.

The 22-year-old appeared before Dorchester Crown Court charged with assaulting Tony Kitchener, of Portland, at 3.50am on Saturday, June 25 last year on The Esplanade.

Prosecutor Jennifer Rickman told the court that Mr Kitchener was walking along the seafront with his girlfriend Shani Samways after a night out when they encountered the defendant and one of his friends.

Miss Rickman said: “They had an argument and then with absolutely no justification the defendant punched Mr Kitchener twice and he fell to the ground.

“Whilst on the ground Brownlee stamped on his head at least six times.

“Mr Kitchener lay immobile on the floor and the Crown says that to stamp on someone’s head that many times is intent to cause really serious harm.

“Brownlee accepts he assaulted the victim and caused actual bodily harm but says he didn’t intend to cause serious harm.”

CCTV footage of the incident watched by the jury shows Mr Kitchener lying unconscious on the ground and being kicked and stamped on by a man who then flees the scene.

Miss Rickman said: “After he had gone the defendant was traced with his friend through the streets of Weymouth.

“You see him re-enacting the punch that threw the victim to the floor.”

Mr Kitchener was taken to Dorset County Hospital and treated overnight for lacerations, cuts, bruising and grazes to his face and head, the court was told.

A few days after the attack he fainted and was readmitted to hospital, a subsequent CT scan showed possible brain haemorrhage.

Mr Kitchener told the court he has no memory of the night and still suffers from headaches and memory loss.

He said: “To this day I can’t remember anything from that evening.

“All I remember is waking up in Dorchester hospital and I felt pain from the top to the bottom of my body.

“I wasn’t allowed to drive and I had to go back to the doctors to get permission.”

Brownlee was arrested around ten minutes after the attack took place and, when interviewed by police, denied any knowledge of the incident until he was shown the footage.

Andrew Hope, defending, told the court that Brownlee, who is based in Germany, came to Bovington three or four days before the incident to undertake a training course for Afghanistan.

The trial continues.