A teenager who left a man lying unconscious in an Ipswich street with a fractured skull after he made a “lewd” comment to his girlfriend has been locked up for two years.

The victim was walking home from a shop in Felixstowe Road when he came across 18-year-old Theodore St Joseph who was walking home from the town centre with his girlfriend, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

Words were exchanged between the men and St Joseph had punched the victim several times.

Ipswich Star: Ipswich Crown Court Ipswich Crown Court

The victim had then walked away with his hands in his pockets and was punched twice from behind by St Joseph causing him to fall to the ground where he lay unconscious in the road.

St Joseph and his partner ran off and the victim was driven to hospital due to a delay in an ambulance arriving.

He was found to have a hairline skull fracture and had five stitches in a cut on his forehead. 

Following his arrest St Joseph claimed he had confronted the victim after he made a sexual comment to his girlfriend.

He told police the victim had asked him what he had in his pocket and had reached towards him and fearing he was going to be robbed he had punched him.

St Joseph, of no fixed addresses, claimed he had been hit twice by the  victim.

He  admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm on November 4 last year and was sentenced to two years detention in a young offenders’ institution.

Steven Dyble for St Joseph said his client had been out with his girlfriend on the night in question and there had been no earlier trouble between him and the victim.

He said St Joseph hadn’t been looking for trouble and the incident started after the victim 

made a “lewd and offensive” comment to St Joseph’s girlfriend.

He said the violence lasted 20 seconds and had been “spontaneous and impulsive”.