An offshore worker has been warned he faces jail after he knocked a stranger unconscious and left him for dead in the centre of Aberdeen.
Father-of-three Kevin Tarras punched Craig Currie to the head, knocking him to the ground, before repeatedly kicking him on the face and body.
Tarras, 33 then fled the scene, leaving Mr Currie lying unconscious on the pavement for 10 minutes before a passerby stopped to help him.
As a result of the violent attack Mr Currie was left with a cut extending from his lip to his nose. The wound required five stitches and has left him permanently disfigured.
Yesterday Sheriff William Summers warned Tarras that it was “practically inconceivable” that he would be sentenced to anything other than imprisonment after he admitted committing the serious assault on March 8 this year.
Fiscal depute Gavin Letford told Aberdeen Sheriff Court the attack happened at around 11.35pm after Mr Currie accidently bumped into Tarras outside the McDonald’s restaurant on Union Street.
The court heard the two men did not know each other and there had not been any other contact before the assault.
Tarras had originally been charged with endangering Mr Currie’s life, however, the Crown accepted his guilty plea to the lesser charge of assault to severe injury and permanent disfigurement.
Mr Letford said: “The complainer, Craig Currie, was walking along Union Street in Aberdeen when he accidently bumped shoulders with the accused on the pavement.
“Thereafter, without provocation Tarras punched Mr Currie to the face causing him to fall to the pavement. He continued to kick Mr Currie several times to the head rendering him unconscious.
“Mr Currie lay on the pavement unconscious for 10 minutes before a witness came to his aid and put him in the recovery position.”
As well as the cut to his face Mr Currie suffered a swollen nose and ear.
Representing the offshore welder, solicitor Ross Taggart said his client had been sober since the incident and had been taking classes in an attempt to address his anger management.
He urged Sheriff William Summers to allow him to remain on bail while background reports are carried out into his character, and said he needed to go offshore at the end of this week to support his partner and three children.
Sheriff Summers said that it was “almost unimaginable” that Tarras, of 80 Balnagask Road, Aberdeen, would “escape a jail sentence”.
As a result he remanded him in custody while his reports are being carried out.
He will return to court for sentencing next month.