A man laid his teeth into a young boy and then blamed a dog for the bite marks in a "pathetic" attempt to dodge police.
Thomas Cockings begged the eight-year-old to lie to his mum and told him to say that he had been hit by a ball after he went near his dog.
He was slapped with a 15-month jail sentence at Swansea Crown Court after he left a noticeable mark on his victim's chest.
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Ieuan Rees, prosecuting, told the court that the boy's mother first noticed a bite mark on his arm at the end of the day, in the summer of 2021.
The boy said he had been bitten by a dog but his mother then spotted another injury, this time on his chest, which looked like a human bite rather than a canine bite.
The boy told his mum the bruising on his chest was from being hit by a ball but she was unconvinced and called the non-emergency 101 number and was advised to seek medical attention due to the risk of infection from any bite.
She took her son to Morriston Hospital A&E unit and Mr Rees said it was at this point that the boy said the 29-year-old defendant had bitten him, reports The Mirror.
Cockings was arrested and interviewed, and told officers that his dog had "nipped" the boy on the arm but denied causing the chest injury.
The court heard he consented to having a dental impression made of his teeth and this, along with enhanced photos of the complex bruising on the boy's chest, were sent to an expert for comparison.
Mr Rees said the expert concluded "there was weight to the conclusion that the defendant was the biter".
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Cockings, from Port Talbot, had previously pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and despite expressing a desire to vacate that plea, eventually maintained it.
John Allchurch, for Cockings, said the defendant had a form of focal epilepsy and had suffered with mental health issues since childhood.
He said his client had been diagnosed with depression, anxiety and borderline personality disorder, and that symptoms of this latter condition included impulsivity and outbursts of rage.
He said it may be that the child had gone close to the defendant's dog after being told to stay away and been bitten, and "impulsively" Cockings had picked him up.
Judge Paul Thomas QC told Cockings that what he had done to his victim had caused an ugly bite mark to his chest, and said it must have been a frightening and bewildering experience for the boy.
Judge Thomas called the seizure story a "false account" of what happened, and a "pathetic attempt to avoid responsibility".
He said that Cockings had shown self pity rather than remorse, and he noted that the author of the pre-sentence report concluded that Cockings posed a risk to children due to his personality disorder.
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