A man, who hit two victims in the face with ball bearings fired from a catapult, has avoided being locked up.

The 2cm pellets went through the skin of Ray Barnes and his son and lodged next to bone. Both needed surgery to remove the metal.

Maidstone Crown Court heard the incident in East Malling began over a “silly” misunderstanding about a motor scooter.

But it led to three street bust ups and ended with five people in court on a variety of charges including affray.

Judge Tony Baumgartner told the catapult wielding thug that the photographs of the injuries caused by the ball bearings “were truly frightening...and could have caused more serious injuries.”

But 20-year-old Keiran Dawson, who wasn’t even part of the original scooter row, escaped an immediate custodial sentence and received a 16-month sentence in a young offenders institute suspended for two years.

Dawson, of Plover Road, Larkfield, and Mark Mison, 25, of Morris Close, East Malling, had admitted unlawfully wounding Ray Barnes Senior and Ray Barnes Junior.

Prosecutor Don Ramble told how on November 11, 2017, Mr Barnes senior, his two sons and a nephew had gone for a drink at the Rising Sun Pub in Mill Street, East Malling

On the way home, he tripped over the scooter which had been left outside a house. His son, Ray junior moved it out of the way.

That led to two men, including Jake Marsden, and a woman coming out of the house shouting. Ray senior and Marsden started scuffling and fell to the ground.

The prosecutor said that after being pulled apart, Marsden got into a Citroen Xsara shouting: “Don’t worry I know where you live.”

Minutes later, Mr Barnes senior is outside his home wearing his slippers and having a cigarette when Marsden and another man, who has since died, shouted: “Come out here”.

“As he steps out, perhaps unwisely, Marsden punched him in the face. Again a scuffle ensues and both fall to the ground.”

Marsden and his friend then run away into Larkspur Close leaving the victim with a bloody nose and blood over his shirt.

But the prosecutor said a third incident then happened at 10pm when Richard Betts' partner, Angela Smith, who is also known as Angela Betts, appear together with Mark Mison, who is believed to have supplied the ball bearings, and Dawson.

It was then five ball bearings were fired at the Betts and only ended when the father charged at Dawson and wrestled the weapon away.

The Barnes, dad Ray senior, Ray junior and his brother Roy, were later taken to hospital for treatment – but not before Smith arrived brandishing a piece of metal and struck Roy Barnes on the shoulder.

Mr Ramble said that when Smith was interviewed by police she claimed she had spent the evening at her mother’s home.

Betts, 53 and Smith, 44, both now of Willowmead, Leybourne, had denied affray but admitted lesser public order offences. Smith also admitted having an offensive weapon.

He was given a three month curfew and she received an eight month jail sentence suspended for a year.

Mison was given a 16 month jail sentence suspended for a year and ordered to do 100 hours of unpaid work for the community.

Marsden, 29, of Moorhen Road, Maidstone, admitted common assault and was told by the judge what he did was “a nasty and cowardly act of thuggery” He was ordered to do 80 hours of unpaid work.

Richard Betts, 23, had been charged as part of Kent Police's investigation.

However the young father died after a fight broke out in Larkspur Close in 2018.

An inquest into his death opened last week, revealing more about the circumstances surrounding his death.

Read more stories from Kent's courts here.