A man accused of a brutal bottle attack at a north-east nightclub walked free from court yesterday after the case against him collapsed.
A jury at Peterhead Sheriff Court heard that Mark Garland was briefly blinded when he was struck with a glass bottle in an apparently unprovoked assault at the town’s Mambos nightspot.
The 44-year-old told the court he fell to the ground after being attacked from behind in the early hours of August 10, last year. But Mr Garland said he never saw his attacker’s face.
A bar worker, who saw the alleged attack and said she was left with bits of broken glass in her hair, also failed to identify the person responsible.
John Bruce, 34, denied allegations that he assaulted Mr Garland with a bottle, injuring him and leaving him permanently disfigured. He alleged that another man in the bar had carried out the attack.
Yesterday afternoon, after three hours of evidence, procurator fiscal David Thorburn told the court he had reviewed the case and decided not to pursue a conviction against Mr Bruce.
Sheriff Andrew Miller told Mr Bruce, of 13 Forman Drive, Peterhead, the charge against him had been formally dropped and he was now free to leave the court.
Earlier, Mr Garland said he had been on a night out in Peterhead when he was attacked at the busy Queen Street venue.
He did not see what he was hit with, but was later told it was a bottle, he said.
“It was sore whatever it was,” he told the court. “It was a drink of some kind because my hair was all covered in drink.
“I ended up on the ground. I was blind in my left eye and it took a while before I could see clearly out of the other one.”
He was taken by ambulance to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and was given internal and external stitches to a deep cut on his arm.
Bar worker Nicole Rafferty, 33, told the court she saw Mr Garland getting “bottled” that night. She said: “He was kind of just minding his own business at the time.”
Asked by Mr Thorburn if she saw anyone in court – including Mr Bruce – who was also at the club that night, she said: “No.”