An offender who bit an Inverness man’s thumb so hard that the tip “crumbled” has been placed on an electronic tag.
Ian Stewart, 37, hit the man on the head and pulled him to the ground before using his teeth with such force that he drew blood.
When his victim later attended hospital due to the pain, it was found that the bite had fractured his thumb.
Stewart appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court for sentencing having previously admitted a single charge of assault to injury.
Fiscal depute Shamielah Ghafar told the court that the complainer was walking along Baron Taylor’s Street in Inverness on April 9 of last year when he was approached by the accused.
Street argument ‘escalated’
Comments were made about a woman who was also there and an argument ensued, after which: “The matter escalated.”
“The accused approached the witness and struck him to the head a few times before grabbing him and pulling him to the ground,” Ms Ghafar told the court.
It was during the struggle that followed that Stewart bit the man’s thumb.
The brawling pair were spotted by police officers on mobile patrol who intervened and observed the complainer’s thumb to be bleeding.
The man refused police attention and asked to go home, however the pain in his thumb later prompted him to visit Raigmore Hospital.
Here it was discovered that he had sustained a fracture to his thumb, the tip of which had “crumbled”.
Solicitor Graham Mann, for Stewart, told the court that his client and the complainer had agreed to engage in a fight.
He said: “There was something of a mutual exchange.”
‘A nasty assault’
Sheriff Sara Matheson told Stewart, of Round House Court, North Kessock: “This is a nasty assault.”
She noted that he was already on community payback orders and had no available hours of unpaid work.
As a direct alternative to custody she instead placed him on a restriction of liberty order requiring him to be within his home between the hours of 7pm and 7am for four months.
She also made him subject to supervision for a period of 18 months.
