An attacker who fashioned a homemade weapon that left a man permanently scarred has been spared jail.
Scott Lesbirel, 44, turned up at the man’s home in Lochside Court, Ullapool, with a bit of metal attached to a string.
When a fight broke out he swung it at his victim, striking him to the back of the head and causing an injury that needed stitching and left a permanent scar.
Lesbirel appeared for sentencing at Inverness Sheriff Court having previously admitted a single charge of assault to injury and permanent disfigurement at Inverness Sheriff Court.
Sentencing in the case had been deferred for a background report on the former diver who had relocated to Wester Ross for a job at the time of the assault.
A previous hearing was told he had gone to the property on July 3 2020 with another local man.
Attacker’s homemade weapon
Fiscal depute Martina Eastwood said that the two occupants of the house heard banging on the window and saw Lesbirel had a weapon – a bit of metal attached to a string.
“The two men armed themselves and confronted Lesbirel, who was outside in the garden,” she said.
“They told him to leave but he did not and a fight ensued. The accused swung a metal weight on a rope and struck one of the men on the back of the head.
“This caused a laceration which required to be stitched and left a permanent scar.”
‘An impulsive act’
Defence solicitor David Patterson said: “He has a record, albeit mostly historical, but the common thread is drug and alcohol misuse.
“The move to Ullapool was a career move and the peer group he met had a significant negative influence on him and led him back into drug and alcohol misuse.
“This was an impulsive act compounded by the use of alcohol. He accepts his conduct was wholly unacceptable. He is now sober and on the straight and narrow.”
Sheriff Eilidh MacDonald fined Lesbirel, formerly of Newton Street, Greenock, but now living in Vale, Guernsey, £3,675.
She warned him that if he missed one of the agreed £500 a month instalments he would be sent to jail for three months instead.