A man who carried out a “brutal and unprovoked” street attack on a stranger while dressed as comic book villain The Joker has been spared jail.
Kristian Marr admitted punching Ross Geddes in the head “repeatedly” a matter of days before Halloween last year, shattering his jaw.
The altercation between the two, outside Prohibition nightclub on Aberdeen’s Langstane Place on October 28, left his 21-year-old victim recuperating in hospital.
Dressed as Batman’s nemesis, the heavily inebriated Marr had been wearing white face paint with a red lipstick smile and a purple suit at the time of the assault.
At Aberdeen Sheriff Court yesterday, Marr’s solicitor David Sutherland accepted his client “had far too much to drink” and as a result had “no recollection” of his actions.
Nonetheless, he said the 25-year-old was filled with “remorse and shame” and had completely abstained from alcohol since the incident.
The solicitor said his client had plans to monitor his intake should he decide to partake again in future.
Sheriff Jack Brown told Marr he had come dangerously close to being imprisoned.
He said: “You have pleaded guilty to assaulting an individual you didn’t know for reasons which seem a little unclear.
“That resulted in Mr Geddes receiving serious injuries as a result of which he will suffer permanent impairment.
“He has a strong lack of feeling in his bottom lip and his confidence has been shaken because of your actions.
“I am just persuaded that, on balance, I can deal with this case without sending you to prison.”
Marr was ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work over the next nine months and told to pay Mr Geddes £1,000 in compensation.
