A TEENAGER caused tendon damage to a neighbour when he punctured his forearm with a golf club following a prank in the snow.

Motorist Karl Millard got out and remonstrated with James Weaver, 19, after the teenager hurled a snowball at his vehicle as he drove home from work.

The pair scuffled by the side of the road in Park End, Middlesbrough, on February 12 last year, before Weaver stormed home to arm himself.

The teenager caught up with Mr Millard, 22, as he unpacked his tools from his car, and used the golf club to smash the passenger side window.

Teesside Crown Court heard how the neighbours than fell to the ground as they grappled, with Mr Millard trying to prevent further damage.

The victim was struck across the left arm, which caused the club to break in two, before Weaver ran from the scene at about 3pm.

Mr Millard later noticed a deep hole the size of a 10p piece, which needed hospital treatment, said Ian Mullarkey, prosecuting.

Surgeons repaired the ruptured tendon with stitches, but Mr Millard had to take time off work and undergo physiotherapy, the court was told.

Catering company worker Weaver, of Windleston Drive, Middlesbrough, admitted charges of unlawful wounding and criminal damage.

Sean Grainger, in mitigation, told the court that the assault was not planned, and Weaver had fetched the golf club solely to wreck the vehicle.

“No one is exactly sure how the wound happened, but it was caused by Mr Weaver and he is responsible for that,”

said Mr Grainger.

“The defendant is a man who comes from a decent family, and since this incident he had managed to find employment.

“He seems to have sorted himself out. He has no previous convictions.

“This has been his first time through the court system.”

Judge Brian Forster gave Weaver a 52-week jail sentence, suspended for 18 months, with Probation Service supervision.

He also ordered him to pay £1,000 compensation and observe a three-month electronically- monitored curfew from 9pm to 6am.

The judge told him: “Anyone who wounds someone else and has in their possession a weapon, comes to court in a position of serious difficulty.

“If I sent you to custody today, you would really lose everything.

“I am satisfied it is in your best interests, and the best interests of the public, for you to carry on working and living the way you usually do.”