A former soldier has been found guilty of battering an Inverurie man with a snow shovel.
Kristopher Knight was on trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court facing allegations that he rained down repeated blows on his 39-year old victim following an argument in a garden on Polinar Place, Inverurie, last year.
The court heard how ex-serviceman Knight picked up the shovel struck his victim multiple times on July 18, 2020 – resulting in a broken arm, fractured elbow and badly injured eye socket.
It took the jury less than two hours to find the 26-year-old guilty by majority of assault to severe injury with a weapon.
Following the verdict, it was revealed that Knight had three previous convictions for violent assaults from 2016.
Accused carried out ‘vicious and sustained’ attack
The jury heard evidence that Knight got into the row with the man over claims by a friend that he was being “threatening” a neighbour.
Knight went to his door to speak to the 39-year-old and the two men got into an argument.
The court heard that Knight then picked up the snow shovel and began striking the man on the back of the head and body before using the shovel’s wooden handle to strike the man in the face causing a hematoma to his eye.
Fiscal depute Lucy Simpson told jurors that the man had suffered a “vicious and sustained attack” by Knight outside his own home.
She said: “He described how he was at home alone when he heard a knock or a bang on the window and heard a male voice shouting ‘Did you start on my mate?’
“It wasn’t a male that he recognised and he told the man he didn’t know what he was talking about.
“As he got outside he then saw the male running towards him with a snow shovel in his hand.
“He described the male as being aggressive, really angry and jumping about.”
Ms Simpson then told the court that Knight hit the man multiple times on the arm and the head, which caused him to fall to the ground.
Neighbour who gave evidence witnessed attack
Knight had lodged a special defence of self-defence and claims the man attacked him first with a hammer.
However, a neighbour who gave evidence identified Knight as the attacker and described how he saw the victim trying to climb back to the communal door of his flat to escape him.
Defence agent Liam McAllister told jurors that there were “issues” with the Crown case and cast doubt on the accuracy of evidence provided by witnesses.
He also claimed it was the victim who had defined for the court the seriousness of his injuries and not police or doctors.
Upon hearing the guilty verdict, Sheriff Morag McLaughlin called for a criminal justice social work report and a restriction of liberty order assessment to be carried out on Knight.
He will be sentenced early next year.
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