The son of a martial arts expert who fought off Police outside Level nightclub claimed he was defending himself against the officers' "aggression", a court heard yesterday.

Zenji Ingham, 33, swore at officers and struck martial arts poses as Police tried to calm him down.

Then, as officers tried to restrain him, he fell to the pavement cutting his face, and was then handcuffed in front of clubgoers along Front Street.

Yesterday in Magistrates' Court however, Ingham said he was so drunk he could not remember anything about the incident.

Ingham, of Garden Drive, Paget, pleaded guilty to using offensive words and resisting a Police officer outside Level nightclub on October 6.

Carrington Mahoney, prosecuting, said: "Police officers heard a noise and a disturbance, and saw a man running up the street and shouting at the staff of the Level nightclub who were chasing him. Officers approached the defendant and he told them: 'F*** you Police'.

"Officers attempted to speak quietly to the defendant but he cursed them and then took up a fighting stance, as spectators gathered from the Level nightclub, which was closing."

Despite being told to calm down, Ingham continued to swear and then struggled with officers, falling to the pavement. Police then handcuffed him, telling him he was under arrest, to which Ingham replied: "Do you know who I am."

Mr. Mahoney said: "Officers noticed he had a cut on his forehead which was starting to bleed. He was taken to hospital for treatment and then to Hamilton Police Station, where he continued to be unco-operative. The defendant was then charged and he did not reply."

Ingham told the court: "I was very intoxicated on that night and as a martial artist and one born into traditional martial arts, that was the only thing I could see. I have no recollection of that night, but the last recollection was that I was at the bar buying a drink peacefully, and then one and a half hours transpired before I was beaten to a bloody pulp by Police officers.

"Obviously I was confronted by a serious level of aggression and so I am going to use the martial arts I was brought up with. It took the entire security staff of Level and six Police officers, which shows the level of aggression I was confronted with.

"I had an argument with my girlfriend and it was one thing after the next. Level's security guards chose to get involved and by the time they left and I was by myself, the Police came to me."

Ingham claimed he had sustained cuts and that his "shirt was covered in blood" due to the actions of the Police.

He added that being arrested for swearing was "a Victorian thing which needs to be abolished".

"I was intoxicated and I was defending myself to get away," he said.

Ingham claimed that as he was the son of a martial arts expert — "the first to teach martial arts on the Island in 1970", the Police had targeted him.

"What about the Police brutality aspect of being arrested?," he asked.

"They know I'm Skipper Ingham's son and all of that was unnecessary, to give me lacerations on my forehead, and to get me off the street. But I was intoxicated and shouldn't have been in the street."

Senior Magistrate Archie Warner fined Ingham $1,000. He told him: "It is very much still an offence to use offensive words in 2007.

"It is a common sense proposition that you can think anyone can go around using this type of offensive language, particularly when Police are just trying to do their job."

Mr. Warner said: "Bermuda courtesy, not Victorian courtesy."