A reveller slapped the buttocks of a paramedic who was taking him to hospital. Lewis Bratcher, 34, committed the assault having regained consciousness after being knocked out in a nightclub, Cardiff Crown Court heard. The dad-of-three was on a night out in Cardiff city centre with his wife on May 18 last year when he became involved in an altercation with a group of clubbers in Kiwi's, a New Zealand-themed bar in St Mary Street. He was asked to leave the premises, said his barrister Leah Pollard. "While talking to a security officer at the nightclub he was punched from behind in the jaw and knocked unconscious," Ms Pollard told the court. The barrister argued the effects of this attack were likely a factor in what happened next. Three paramedics were called to aid Bratcher, who initially declined to be taken to hospital before changing his mind. A male paramedic leaned over to move items off a seat in the ambulance, so that Bratcher could sit down. As he did so Bratcher slapped his buttocks "with force", said the judge, Recorder Christian Jowett. "You were smiling, saying nothing, when he asked why you did what you did," the judge added. "You were placed in the ambulance and taken to hospital." Bratcher, of Heol Poyston in Caerau, was initially charged with sexual assault but that charge was dropped when he pleaded guilty to assault on an emergency worker. His most recent previous conviction came in 2012 for attempted robbery. Earlier offences included affray and disorder. Ms Pollard said her client is a plasterer and renderer who contributes to his community's rugby and football clubs. "It's conceded he had consumed alcohol that night," she said. "There was no physical injury [to the paramedic] and, in fairness, to Mr Bratcher he had no independent recollection of what happened due to his head injury. "He was appalled he behaved in that way. He has accepted full responsibility. Others may have challenged the evidence because the CCTV was not clear, and basically chanced their arm, but he didn't do that. He is really ashamed to find himself here today." Recorder Jowett noted that the probation service had assessed Bratcher as posing a medium risk of reoffending and that the victim was an emergency worker who was assaulted in the course of his duties. The judge imposed a 12-month community order with a 60-day alcohol abstinence requirement, six days of rehabilitation activity and 50 hours of unpaid work, as well as £150 in prosecution costs and a £114 victim services surcharge. As Bratcher left court, WalesOnline asked why he slapped the paramedic's buttocks. He responded by laughing and hiding his face with a leaflet from his alcohol monitoring programme.