A newly-released prisoner who left a tourist to the city needing hospital treatment after a brutal attack with a glass bottle has been jailed.
Tony Emslie had just been released from prison and was staying at a hotel in Aberdeen city centre when he attacked the stranger, who was visiting family in the area and was enjoying a night out with his brother.
Emslie, 40, approached the man and out of the blue punched him in the face before striking him with a bottle when the tourist tried to defend himself, Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard.
When his victim flagged down a passing police patrol he told them “he glassed me” as blood poured from his face.
Fiscal depute David Rogers said the incident happened in the early hours of Sunday January 22 this year, just days after Emslie’s victim had arrived in the city with his wife and daughter to visit family.
Both men were drunk
He said the man was walking towards his hotel at the end of the night when he encountered Emslie.
“Whilst walking past Miller and Carter on Union Street, he observed the accused walking across the street towards him,” the fiscal said.
“The accused attempted to engage him in conversation but he could not understand what the accused was saying.
“The accused then punched the man to the nose and due to fear of a continuing assault, the man then repeatedly struck the accused to the face.”
Emslie’s victim was then struck around the left side of his head with a glass bottle, causing several cuts to his head and face.
‘He glassed me’
Passing police officers were flagged down and noted a “substantial volume of blood” on the victim’s face who told them “he glassed me”, whilst pointing to Emslie.
The man sustained bruising and cuts to the left side of his head including a 2cm cut on his temple which required stitches. He also sustained multiple shallow cuts to the left side of his head which required to be cleaned and closed with tissue glue.
Emslie admitted a charge of assault to severe injury.
His defence agent David Sutherland said Emslie was being put up in a hotel after accommodation fell through after he was released from serving time at HMP Grampian.
He said his client had gone outside for a cigarette, fell in with some street drinkers and wound up drunk before attacking the man.
“From the age of 13 he went from using Class B drugs to Class A when he was 19,” he added. “He’s now 40 and has been clean of Class A drugs for two years, but alcohol then became a factor regrettably, as is often the case with addicts.”
‘He did get a black eye for his trouble’
“They were both drunk,” he added. “My client has no recollection of what happened but accepts from the CCTV that he did assault the complainer. What didn’t help was the complainer repeatedly assaulting him in return.
“My client had the bottle. He did get a black eye for his trouble.”
Sheriff Morag McLaughlin jailed Emslie, a prisoner of HMP Grampian in Peterhead, for 13 months.
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