A vicious thug has been jailed after he knocked a woman out cold before lifting his arms aloft and announcing he was “Aberdeen’s hardest man”.
Jack Walker left the woman lying covered in blood on Crown Street as he walked around her unconscious body while “looking pleased with himself”.
Following the attack, Walker – who also assaulted a male who tried to help the woman – bragged to horrified onlookers: “That’s how a real man takes care of his business.”
“I’m Aberdeen’s hardest man – this is how we deal with stuff in Aberdeen”.
Appearing in Aberdeen Sheriff Court, Walker, 29, also admitted knocking a second person unconscious on George Street the previous day.
As CCTV footage of the brutal assaults was shown to the court, even Walker’s own solicitor stated that there was “no denying” his client had a “hair-trigger temper”.
Man had blood pouring from head
Fiscal depute David Rogers told Aberdeen Sheriff Court that at around 5.41pm on August 9 last year a man was on George Street when he was approached by Walker who had his hands raised up.
As soon as the man was in striking distance, Walker then punched him once to the face, causing the man to fall backwards where he struck his head on the pavement rendering him unconscious.
An ambulance was called due to blood pouring from the back of the man’s head.
A woman who’d witnessed the assault told a police officer that Walker had carried out a “completely unprovoked attack” and knocked his victim “out cold”.
Hours later, at around 2am the following morning, Walker was standing on Crown Street when he approached a woman on the pavement and punched her one to the face, knocking her into a shop window.
An unidentified man attempts to come to the woman’s aid but was grabbed and thrown to the ground by Walker, who then repeatedly punched him in the head and body.
The injured woman then tried to intervene and was punched in the head again, knocking her out cold.
‘You must not be that hard – you knocked out a girl’
A witness described Walker as looking “pleased with himself” and overheard him saying: “That’s how a real man takes care of his business.”
The witness then shouted: “You’ve just knocked that lassie out.”
A second witness saw a woman lying unconscious in the street “covered in blood” and contacted the emergency services.
Walker then approached The Stag pub where he was seen gloating about what he had just done by stating: “I’m Aberdeen’s hardest man, this is how we deal with stuff in Aberdeen.”
A member of The Stag staff replied: “You must not be that hard – you knocked out a girl” before grabbing Walker and holding him until police arrived.
Appearing in the dock, Walker pleaded guilty to three charges of assault.
‘Absolutely disgraceful’
Defence solicitor Stuart Murray told the court that his client had been under the influence of alcohol at the time of these incidents and claimed, in relation to the first assault, that Walker had been provoked in the form of verbal abuse.
“Mr Walker tells me that he was raising his arms and telling the complainer to leave it but he wouldn’t,” the lawyer said.
“But there’s no doubt that Mr Walker has a hair-trigger temper and at that point he throws out a strong punch – it is pretty horrific.”
Mr Murray conceded that the second incident was “unprovoked” and said his client was relieved that the “injuries to the woman had not been more significant”.
“He is extremely remorseful,” he said adding: “Mr Walker understands that there is no alternative to a custodial sentence.”
Sheriff Graham Buchanan described Walker’s actions towards the male and female on Crown Street as “absolutely disgraceful”.
He sentenced Walker, whose address was given as HMP Grampian, to three years and nine months in prison.
The sheriff also made him subject to a 12-month supervised release for the “protection of the public”.
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