Two workmen got into a fight with pedestrians, leaving a man lying injured in the road – a court has heard.
Hotel visitors staying in Inverness believed the pair, who were in work vans driving through slow-moving traffic, was “staring” at them as the group walked to buy alcohol.
Both sides swore at each other and when Krzystof Krawiec, 35, and Krzystof Olko, 38, were both challenged by the pedestrians at a red traffic light, the pair got out of their vehicles.
After a fight broke out in the city centre, they got back into their vans and drove away, Inverness Sheriff Court was told.
The pair, both of Midmills Road in Inverness, have since appeared in the dock and admitted to threatening behaviour.
‘If you are going to do something, do it’
Fiscal depute Karen Poke said the incident happened on June 5 2021.
A group of three young women and two men were spending the night at the Pentahotel in Inverness and had decided to go and buy alcohol.
As they walked along Academy Street, they encountered the two workmen travelling in vans that were going through slow-moving traffic.
“The group believed the persons within the vans were staring at them,” Ms Poke told the court.
The group and the van occupants then began swearing at one another and when the vans were stopped by a red traffic light at the junction of Academy Street and Queensgate, one of the pedestrians said: “If you are going to do something, do it”.
Krawiec and Olko then got out of their vehicles.
Krawiec aimed a kick at one of the men’s chests and Olko hit the man in the face, knocking him to the ground where the glass bottle he was carrying smashed.
As the pair walked back to their vans, the man approached them again and a fight ensued, before Krawiec and Olko left the scene.
Fight captured on CCTV camera
“The accused thereafter entered their van and left (the complainer) lying injured on the carriageway,” Ms Poke said.
She added: “The incident is captured fully on CCTV”.
Defence solicitor Duncan Henderson, who represented Karwiec, said his client “shouldn’t have got out of the van”.
He told the court: “He accepts that”.
Olko’s defence agent said his client was a first-time offender and added: “He accepts that it is simply something that should not have happened”.
Sheriff Aitken fined the men £320 each.
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