York rugby player Billy Cakaunitabua jailed for glassing

A RUGBY star has been jailed after he glassed a pilot in a moment of “madness” in a bar in York city centre.

Billy Cakaunitabua, high-scoring winger for York RUFC, attacked John Oratis on a night out, leaving him scarred for life, York Crown Court heard.

Cakaunitabua, who served with the British Army in Northern Ireland and Bosnia before becoming a part-time prison officer, is now beginning a nine-month jail sentence.

Richard Walters, prosecuting, said Cakaunitabua suddenly and without warning hit 32-year-old Mr Oratis in the face early on December 11, after the pair had been talking amicably for some time near the bar of Vudu Lounge in Swinegate and after the pilot had bought him a drink.

The attack left Mr Oratis permanently scarred. He needed 30 stitches in wounds to his face and head, including one near his eye, and it took three hospital visits to finish the treatment.

He was off work for three weeks and suffered from so much pain he could not put on flying goggles or sleep properly.

Nicholas Barker, mitigating, said Cakaunitabua had lost his mother a few weeks before the attack and had drunk more than twice his normal amount.

Mr Barker told the Recorder of York, Judge Stephen Ashurst: “You have before you a very impressive man who has given a lot to society. The defendant must be judged for those one or two seconds of madness.”

The judge told Cakaunitabua: “For reasons we simply do not know, you lost your self-control and your temper.”

He said about the pilot: “He is very lucky that the injury didn’t extend into his eye. I accept you have a very deep sense of shame. You have spoilt your exemplary character.”

Cakaunitabua, of Del Pyke, The Groves, pleaded guilty to wounding. The winger has played for York RUFC for nine years. He is likely to be released from prison before the start of the 2011/12 season.

Mr Walters said Mr Oratis had been out with friends in the Clifton area before going to the city centre. He was queuing for drinks in Vudu Lounge, as was Cakaunitabua. The two started talking and having a laugh and a joke.

Although he arrived after the winger, Mr Oratis was served first, so he bought a drink for Cakaunitabua. They continued to talk until Cakaunitabua lashed out.

The rugby player later told police he had had ten pints, three sambucas and a coke.

Mr Barker said Cakaunitabua was a “shamed man” who did not know why he had acted in the way he had. He had served five years in the Army including in Northern Ireland and Bosnia before settling in Britain. For four years, he had been unable to afford the trip back to his native Fiji.

Then his mother died and rugby club members held a whip-round to pay the air fare so he could attend her funeral.