A man who struck his ex-partner as she tried to break up a fight between him and her father has been ordered to complete unpaid work.

Jamie MacDonald, 42, had gone to speak the woman after his car windscreen was smashed by a child with a hammer.

But when he arrived at the Alness property her father stepped in. A stand-up fight ensued and the woman was hit as she tried to intervene.

MacDonald appeared at Tain Sheriff Court for sentencing having previously admitted a charge of culpable and reckless conduct in relation to the incident on August 27 last year.

Child smashed car window

At the earlier hearing fiscal depute Shay Treanor told the court that MacDonald, of Firhill, Alness, had been at his home at around 7pm when the child arrived with a hammer and smashed the front window of his car.

MacDonald had gone to another address in Alness to confront the child’s mother, but had been met at the door by the woman’s father.

The two men had got into a fight and the woman had tried to break it up.

“As she was attempting to split up the fight between her father and the accused she was struck in the face by the accused,” Mr Treanor said.

‘He didn’t care who he hurt’

He added: “She noted that she didn’t know if Jamie meant to do it but he didn’t care who he hurt at that point.”

Sheriff Neil Wilson placed MacDonald on the community payback order requiring him to complete 120 hours of unpaid work in the community.

He told him: “You are old enough that you don’t need supervision, but there has to be some element of punishment.”