A traumatised mental health nurse who feared a patient would kill him still suffers flashbacks to the horrific attack, a court has heard.
Ian Fraser throttled the New Craigs Psychiatric Hospital worker until the man was unconscious, and went on to kick his victim’s head.
The 39-year-old had earlier been admitted into the Affric Ward for assessment at the Inverness healthcare facility on April 15 2019.
A trial at Inverness Sheriff Court was told that Fraser grabbed the staff nurse from behind in a head-lock and pulled him backward off his chair as his grip tightened.
Fraser then kicked the nurse on the head as he lay unconscious on the floor before being restrained by other NHS personnel.
‘Attack has dramatically changed my life’
The accused, who represented himself in court, didn’t deny the assault of his victim whom he questioned on the stand.
Instead, he queried and contradicted some of the details of how the assault took place.
Fraser forced the staff nurse to relive the horrific attack while he gave evidence against his attacker last Spring.
The witness told the court: “It has dramatically changed my life.
“I used to enjoy going on holidays, riding my motorbike. I stray little from my home and I have become a withdrawn person.
“I have never experienced that before – someone trying to end my life. I truly felt my time was up.”
The victim said he still needs treatment for post-traumatic stress and his nightly sleep is interrupted by flashbacks.
And he added that he managed to call for help by activating the ward’s panic alarm before blacking out.
Fraser failed to appear in court
Inverness Sheriff Court heard that Fraser had previously been arrested after turning up three times at an address in Ardersier on the same day as the hospital assault unfolded.
He punched and broke a pane of glass in french doors after a series of strange comments about how he could stop the sun destroying a retired couple’s home in an explosion.
Fraser was then taken by police to the mental health treatment facility where he committed the assault.
Following a trial, Fraser was found guilty of causing fear and alarm and damage to the Ardersier property, as well as attacking the nurse.
He had been due to be sentenced last year but failed to appear in the dock, so a warrant was issued for his arrest.
‘Who knows what would have happened’
Appearing from custody before Sheriff Robert Macdonald on Monday, Fraser was told: “You strangled someone to the point of unconsciousness.
“If his colleagues hadn’t come in, who knows what would have happened.”
The sheriff told Fraser that he was considering a jail sentence but decided to impose a substantial fine on the first offender instead.
Fraser, of Croftfoot Road in Glasgow, was fined £2,925 and told he would go to jail for three months if he didn’t pay up within seven days.
But Fraser told the sheriff that he would pay the fine immediately.
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