Golfer “bit off man’s nose” in row over round

An argument over a round of golf led to a man biting the nose off his playing partner in a casino car park.

Police said 51-year-old Mark Wells “bit the nose off the victim” on Monday evening following a row over the round they had played earlier in the day, according to WXXV-TV.

Local police chief Toby Schwartz said the force responded to a complaint of a man with a “disfiguring facial injury”.

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Despite officers being called to the Hollywood Casino in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, the nose was not found. The victim was taken to a nearby hospital in Gulfport.

“The investigation determined that suspect, Mark Curtis Wells, bit the nose off of the victim,” Schwartz said.

Officers said Wells initially fled the scene in a Tesla before handing himself in. He could face up to seven years in prison if he is found guilty of the charge of felony mayhem.

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He is reported to have paid the required 10% of his $50,000 bond.

State law defines the felony as premeditated “crime committed with the intent to kill in which the suspect mutilates, disfigures, disables, or destroys someone’s tongue, eye, lip, nose, limb or another body part”.