An Aberdeen sheriff said that city centre violence is “a problem which has to be addressed” after hearing details of yet another brutal attack.
Two revellers have been handed unpaid work after chasing and battering a man on Union Street – leaving him permanently scarred.
Philip Sinclair, 20, and Samuel Stevenson, 23, first encountered their victim as he was having an altercation with someone else but quickly got involved themselves.
The man tried to flee the duo but was chased, punched and kicked before the attack came to an end.
As a result, the victim was left with a cut to his face which will leave a permanent scar.
Fiscal depute Georgia Laird told Aberdeen Sheriff Court the incident happened around 2am on September 26 2021 with the male initially involved in a separate altercation with a different group.
Victim thrown to the ground in Aberdeen city centre attack
She went on: “Stevenson became aggressive towards the complainer and punched him on the head and kicked him to the body.
“The complainer attempted to run away but stumbled and eventually backed himself against a wall where Sinclair threw punches at his head and Stevenson joined him in this.
“Stevenson threw the complainer to the floor and kicked him on the body.”
Both attackers then walked off as their victim got back to his feet.
He sustained a laceration to his eyebrow which had to be closed using glue.
‘He seems to have made positive strides in his life’
Sinclair, of Great Western Road, and Stevenson, of Woodcroft Grove, Aberdeen, each admitted a charge of assault injury and permanent disfigurement.
Defence agent Neil McRobert, representing Sinclair, said his client was just 18 at the time and had been on a night out drinking.
He added: “The initial incident didn’t involve the two accused. It would appear the complainer involved himself with another member of the public.”
He accepted Sinclair ran a “short distance” after his victim, adding his client’s mental health was “fragile” at the time.
Mr McRobert said: “He’d been using alcohol, and previously illicit substances, to, in his mind, address those mental health issues but has probably exacerbated the problem.
“He seems to have made positive strides in his life since this.”
Aberdeen city centre violence ‘a problem which has to be addressed’
Lawyer John Hardie, for Stevenson, said his client had no previous convictions and described the incident as a “one-off”.
He said: “He got involved because one of his friends was being assaulted.”
Sheriff Ian Duguid said violence in the centre of Aberdeen is “a problem which has to be addressed”.
He handed both men 18 months of supervision as well as unpaid work – 150 hours for Sinclair and 120 hours for Stevenson.
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