A 31-year-old father-of-three from Wales was killed while he was in the city centre of Prague celebrating a stag do. David ‘Dai’ Richards, who was from Mountain Ash in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, was with a group of friends in the European city when the incident happened.
Now Joel Hoppe, 27, from Germany, has been jailed during a sentencing at a Prague court, after being convicted of grievous bodily harm (GBH) which resulted in death.
Mr Richards and his friends came across another group of tourists during the stag do on September 21 last year.
“At first, everything was calm and the tourists were chatting normally,” Czech Police spokesman Jan Daněk said. “Then there was a rift between them and one of them hit the other in the head with a vodka bottle. The blow was so strong that the injured person immediately fell to the ground and unfortunately died in hospital.” In court, Hoppe pleaded guilty to GBH as well as disorderly conduct.
The man admitted to acting in a fot of rage as a result fo being under the influence of alcohol and drugs, reports Wales Online. He told the court that a day doesn’t go by when “I don’t think about the late David and his children”.
He said: “I will accept whatever sentence you give me.” He also addressed the family of Richards who were in the court. He said: “It breaks my heart to see these people here today.”
A sentence of at least eight years imprisonment and a ban from the Czech Republic for 10 years was put forward by the state prosecutor. A sentence of seven years after taking into account Hoppe’s remorse and his otherwise orderly life was handed down by Judge Daniella Sarah Sotolářová. She said: “We also believed that you did not want to cause the death of the victim.”
Hoppe was ordered to pay 4.7 million crowns (£158,758) to Mr Richards’ family and has been banned from the country for 10 years. Mr Richards was father to four-year-old Aurora, two-year-old Bear and one-year-old Vienna. He was described as an “absolutely amazing father, partner, son, brother, and friend” by his family.
His sister-in-law Tammy Sheehan, cousin Gemma Thomas, and partner Jola Simms said in a statement following the attack last September that it wasn’t “a fight like what I think some people are thinking” but rather a “blind attack”. They said: “From the attack he actually passed away from blunt force trauma. David was talking to locals in the street when he took a blow to the back of the head.”
A post-mortem found that Mr Richards’ cause of death was brain trauma, swelling, and haemorrhaging.
