A Judge has expressed concern for the safety of a homeless man after he was cleared of a Boxing Day bottle attack.
Darak Dendle, 32, was found not guilty after telling Exeter Crown Court he was defending himself when he hit fellow vagrant Alex Thompson with the bottle in the city centre.
Dendle was acquitted after a trial which was delayed by a day when he fell fast asleep in the dock before the jury were even sworn in.
He was unable to keep his eyes open because he had not slept for at least one night while living rough on the streets of Exeter because he was worried about being attacked by other members of the homeless community.
The case was only able to begin after a police car had given Dendle a lift to and from his father's home in Crediton, where he was able to get a night's sleep.
Recorder Mr Paul Garlick, QC, said he hoped the social services could help Dendle find somewhere safe to stay.
He said:"I understand he is no longer able to remain with his parents. I don't know if he can make contact with the social services."
The Recorder said he had received a message from the police that Alex Thompson, the homeless man who Dendle had been accused of attacking, had been arrested for being on Friday morning for being drunk and in possession of a knife.
During the case Dendle said he was in fear of Mr Thompson and claimed he had reported assaults to the police which had not been acted on.
His barrister Mr Gareth Evans told the Judge: "I hope the police take the appropriate action this time."
During the four-day trial the court was given an insight into the lives of the homeless community which was all the more poignant because the alleged assault took place on New Year's Eve.
CCTV footage from city centre cameras in Exeter showed groups of people out enjoying themselves while the homeless struggled to stay out of the rain by cowering in doorways or under the arch beside St Stephen's Church on the High Street.
Dendle had been trying to shelter in the doorway of Urban Outfitters before the incident and was arrested on the stairs leading down to the Cavern Club, one of several spots where he sometimes slept rough.
Dendle whose only permanent address is Butts Road, Crediton, denied wounding and was found not guilty.
During the case he said he was acting in self-defence when he hit Mr Thompson over the head with a bottle.
He said he had already been assaulted by Alex Thompson earlier in the evening in an argument over tobacco and thought he was under attack again when the other man came towards him with arms flailing.
Mr Thompson needed hospital treatment for a head injury after sustaining a wound from the bottle in the incident which happened in or around the archway off Exeter's High Street.
The prosecution say Dendle was angry after being hit in the earlier argument in which he had asked for a cigarette and been refused.
They allege he found a bottle, returned around the back of the archway and hit Mr Thompson at least once from behind as he sat down.
Dendle said he returned to the archway to ask Mr Thompson why he hit him and reacted when he moved out of the archway and toward him.
He said:"I hit him about two feet outside the archway as he came to meet me. He came at me. He was swinging at me. He came out swinging but I sidestepped and he did not get to hit me.
"I used the bottle because I was worried about what he was going to do. It was self-defence. I thought he was about to hit me."
