A pub bouncer who killed a Dunstable Town football supporter was on Wednesday, March 15, 2023, jailed for nine and a half years.
Wilfred Fantie, 44, struck Aaron Bateman with a left hook outside the Wheatsheaf Pub in High Street North.
The punch was delivered with such force that 28-year-old had no time to put out his arms to break his fall onto the pavement.
He was rushed to the Luton and Dunstable hospital, where he died two days later.
Fantie, previously of Henley Road in Bedford and now of Somerset House, Leafield, Luton denied manslaughter, but was convicted by a jury last month.
He claimed he was acting in self-defence and had been racially abused, spat at and punched.
Luton Crown Court was told that Aaron suffered diabetes and cystic fibrosis and needed regular meals and medication.
On Saturday February 12, 2022, he and his father Ian went to watch Dunstable Town’s home game against Ardley United. They had met up with friends at the Gary Cooper pub, where Aaron had something to eat and a glass of cider.
The group went on to the Globe pub before watching the match. After the game they returned to the Globe before arriving shortly before 9pm at the Wheatsheaf, where a live tribute band called The Lash was playing.
Ian Bateman and a friend were dancing with their tops off and were asked to leave when the refused to put them back on.
At the door there was pushing and shoving between Mr Fantie , who is known as David or Dave, and Mr Bateman senior, who ended up slightly injured on the ground.
A scuffle broke out in the lobby area between the two Batemans, the defendant and a woman bar worker. Aaron’s scarf was pulled before he walked away from the pub and out onto the pavement, followed by Fantie.
Prosecutor Peter Shaw said Aaron turned round with his hands open. “The defendant delivered a hard left hook and a right hand punch. It knocked him to the ground with such force that he had no time to put his arms out to break the fall,” he said.
Aaron Bateman was taken to accident and emergency at the Luton and Dunstable hospital, bleeding from his left ear. He was placed in intensive care where he died two days later from a traumatic brain injury.
The doorman was arrested. He said the Batemans had caused trouble on earlier occasions.
Two weeks earlier he said he had been racially abused. On that night he said Aaron had punched him the face and had spat at him. He said the father had used racial language.
Prosecutor Peter Shaw said: “Aaron Bateman was worse for drink and suffered a number of medical conditions. The defendant was a fit and trained doorman and not a real threat to him.
“He was a doorman who was supposed to protect customers, not attack them.”
In a victim personal statement Ian Bateman told the defendant: “As a father I hope you never have to go through what you put us through.”
His sister Charlotte said: “He was kind, gentle and funny. “ She said Fantie should have known the consequences of his actions.
Defending, Sailesh Mehta said the second punch did not seem to connect with the victim. “ It was one punch. It was a few seconds of loss of temper,” he said.
He said the father-of-six had not been violent in the past. Character references stated he went out of his way to help people.
Jailing him, Judge Michael Simon said: “Aaron had his arms out in nothing more than an innocuous gesture; he was neither confrontational nor threatening. At this point for whatever reason, and on the jury’s verdict with no justification, the defendant punched Aaron Bateman so hard with his left fist he knocked Aaron out cold before Aaron hit the pavement, banging his head without the capacity in any way to break his fall.”
The judge said Fantie had deliberately pursued Aaron intending to assault him. He said: “Delivering a blow in anger of significant force against a defenceless, intoxicated much more slightly built young man who posed no threat to him at all.”
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