A SALISBURY man who assaulted two mental health nurses "cannot be held responsible" for his actions, according to his solicitor.

Mark Archibald, 35, pleaded guilty to two counts of battery at Salisbury Magistrates Court on Friday (March 24).

Prosecuting, Nick Barr said Archibald was at Callington Road Hospital in Bristol on August 20 last year.

Mr Barr said Kurt Calder, a mental health nurse, was attending to Archibald at about 1.30pm, when Archibald threatened to break his jaw and poured Ribena on the floor, leading to a decision to move him to a seclusion unit.

But Archibald "locked his arms and legs" and refused to be moved.

Mr Calder tried to move him, but Archibald "sank his teeth into his forearm" before other staff members restrained him.

Later that day, at about 9.45pm, Archibald assaulted Wesley Plumley, another nurse at the hospital.

Mr Barr said Mr Plumley was attending to the defendant in the seclusion unit when Archibald was becoming "more and more agitated" and "began to threaten to kick off again".

Mr Barr said Archibald shoved Mr Plumley to the nose with an open palm, then threw himself on the floor and had to be restrained again.

The court saw pictures of Mr Calder's injury – a semi-circular bite mark with broken skin, bleeding and bruising – and Mr Barr said he required a course of antibiotics. Mr Plumley's nose was badly bruised.

Defending, Richard Griffiths said Archibald had presented himself at the hospital a few days before, but had been refused admission and treatment but that "subsequent events proved that assessment to be completely and utterly wrong".

He said Archibald was later arrested for another offence, taken to the hospital and sectioned.

Mr Griffiths said: "He was simply unwell. To put it bluntly, you're not responsible for your actions because you are ill."

He said the incident had been triggered when Archibald realised the police had not brought his phone to the hospital when transporting him, and that "the nursing staff seemed to be remarkably unsympathetic about that".

Mr Griffiths also said nurses had told Archibald "we can take you into seclusion the easy way or the hard way" and that they could have handled the situation better by taking Archibald aside. He added: "If they had, we might not be here."

He said Archibald was taken to the seclusion room and told he was going to be sedated, and as he had been sedated early that day, he believed it wouldn't be safe.

Mr Griffiths said: "If you are mentally unwell, you can't be held entirely responsible for your actions.

"It's, in my submission, very substantial mitigation.

"I hope you don't feel I'm being unfair on mental health professionals, but if they are taking care of someone that's mentally unwell I expect them to take care of them the way they have been trained."

Archibald was previously sentenced to a year in prison after using an aerosol can and a lighter to set fire to furniture at a psychiatric hospital in Salisbury when staff refused to admit him.

Bench chairman Richard Trahair said: "The question we really have to consider is the balance between rehabilitating you and the question of public safety.

"We believe, looking at sentences you have had in the past, that specific drug rehab treatment will be beneficial to you, and if it's beneficial to you it will be beneficial to the public."

Mr Trahair made an 18-month community order, with requirements that Archibald, of Essex Square, Salisbury, complete a drug rehabilitation program.

He must also pay £300 compensation to Mr Calder and £100 to Mr Plumley, with an £85 victim surcharge.