A soldier who carried out a homophobic attack that was caught on CCTV in Inverness city centre has been ordered to pay his victim compensation.
Ian Mulroy and fellow military man Thomas Howells targeted a man on his way home from a night out last December.
Howells pushed the man’s chips in his face and called him homophobic slurs before Mulroy knocked him to the ground and kicked him repeatedly.
Mulroy, 19, appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court for sentencing having previously admitted a single charge of assault to injury with an aggravation relating to sexual orientation.
Howells, who had admitted a charge of threatening or abusive behaviour with the same aggravation, was ordered to pay his victim £1,000 at a hearing last month.
At an earlier calling of the case, fiscal depute Karen Poke said that the incident, which took place in the early hours of December 22 last year, was caught on CCTV.
She said the victim was on his way home from a night out with a friend when he was targeted at around 3am.
She said: “Mr Howells went up to them both and forcefully pushed [the complainer’s] chips into his face while making derogatory comments, shouting and calling him a ‘f****t’ and a ‘p**f’”.
Solider launched ‘unprovoked’ attack
The witness backed away but Mulroy then launched a “completely unprovoked” attack.
The charge detailed how Mulroy repeatedly punched his victim on the head, forced him to the ground and repeatedly kicked him on the body.
The attack left the man with suspected broken ribs as well as a burst nose, lip and mild swelling to his face and head.
Mulroy was based at Wellington Barracks in London and Howells at Somme Barracks in Catterick, North Yorkshire.
Mulroy’s solicitor Marc Dickson told Sheriff Gary Aitken that his client had returned to Inverness from his army posting to attend an emotive family event.
“It was a difficult day for Mr Mulroy all round,” he said.
Mr Dickson said his client had been drinking and had decided to meet up with his co-accused in an effort to “lift his spirits” but the two had become very drunk.
Soldier ‘horrified’ by his own actions
“Mr Mulroy was entirely intoxicated. It is clear from CCTV that he had difficulty walking,” he said.
“Difficulty had arisen between his co-accused and the individual concerned. His co-accused called upon Mr Mulroy to assist him. That seemed to be the start point of Mr Mulroy’s involvement. He blindly became involved.”
“He wishes to take this very public opportunity to apologise for the way he behaved and the way that he caused someone else to feel.”
Mr Dickson explained that Mulroy, who was described as a “promising young soldier”, had already felt the impact of his actions on his army career, losing opportunities for promotion and transfer.
He confirmed that Mulroy will face further military discipline over the matter.
Sheriff Aitken told Mulroy that he was very lucky the outcome of his actions had not been worse.
He said: “This was an appalling offence that should simply not have happened. Whatever your difficulties are, drinking alcohol to the point that you have no idea what you are doing and then physically attacking somebody else is not the way to deal with them.”
Ordering Mulroy to pay his victim compensation of £1,500, he said: “You appear, other than this incident, to be a useful and productive member of society.”
