A former RAF serviceman has been ordered to pay his victim £1,000 in compensation after his one-punch attack left the man unconscious on the pavement.
Jamie Simmons fled back into his RAF Lossiemouth base straight after the assault, which knocked out his victim’s tooth and sent the man to hospital.
Elgin Sheriff Court was told that Simmons encountered his victim getting out of a taxi with a woman outside the base at around 12.30am on July 30 2020.
The 31-year-old, a gunner in the RAF, reacted with a one-punch blow to the face, which caused the man to hit his head off the pavement.
Victim knocked out with one punch
Fiscal depute Shay Treanor added: “The woman went to the complainer’s assistance and lifted his head. He was floppy, he was not responding and had blood on his face.”
The woman put the unconscious man in the recovery position as the accused “ran off towards base”.
Meanwhile, his victim came around, spitting out a mouthful of blood along with his own tooth – which police later recovered and returned to him.
He was taken to Dr Gray’s Hospital in Elgin where he received sutures to lacerations in his mouth and cheek.
Defence agent Matthew O’Neill said his client had recognised the woman – the wife of a friend – and feared she was drunk and going to land herself in trouble.
“There appeared to be some concern as to what was happening at the time,” he said.
“In an attempt to stick up for his friend, who was not there at the time, words were exchanged.
“They were not words of a particularly favourable or positive manner.”
Now works with horses
He said Simmons then “took himself away from the situation” and was encouraged to get back to the air base by others.
“He accepts he should have stayed and dealt with things in a more sensible fashion,” the court heard.
“He has played an important role for us all in the RAF as a gunner. With hindsight, he says that his actions on the evening were highly uncalled for.
“Situations such as that are not ones he will involve himself with going forward.”
The first offender has since left the air force and the area and works with horses at a stud in Wales.
Sheriff Ian Cruickshank handed Simmons, now of Glabe Equestrian, Bronington, Whitchurch, a £525 fine and ordered he pays his victim £1,000 in compensation.
He told him: “You appear as a first offender and to an extent I accept that what happened on this occasion was out of character, particularly given your previous exemplary employment. You are not someone who is shy of working hard.”
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