A man has been told that he narrowly avoided a prison sentence after he attacked and bit an Aberdeen holidaymaker on the ear.
Daniel Stewart, 29, appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court where he admitted assaulting the man on Union Street in the early hours of the morning.
The two got into an argument before Stewart struck the man before getting him on the ground where he bit him on the ear.
His solicitor Mike Monro told the court that Stewart – who has previous assault convictions – has “no recollection” of the incident.
Victim realised he had been bitten
Fiscal depute Emma Petersen told the court that at around 2am on June 26 last year a man, who was enjoying a holiday in Aberdeen, was walking down Union Street when an argument erupted outside Soul Bar.
This escalated into a physical altercation whereby the holidaymaker was repeatedly punched on the head by Stewart.
As the man fell to the ground, Stewart climbed on top of him and soon after he felt a sharp pain to his right ear.
He quickly realised Stewart had bitten him.
The holidaymaker got up off the ground thanks to a passerby’s assistance.
Police officers on their way to another matter saw the aftermath and stopped due to the victim sporting a laceration to his ear.
Stewart was arrested and as he was led away stated: “He assaulted me!”
In the dock, Stewart pleaded guilty to one charge of assault to injury.
Attack was a ‘violent one’
Defence solicitor Mike Monro told the court that his client’s recollection of events that night is “scant to say the least”.
“All parties involved in this were under the influence and words were exchanged by both sides,” the solicitor said.
“My client does not have a record to be proud of and has had to go through quite a lot of trauma on a personal basis.
“He has almost been in a downward spiral in his youth and now in his late 20s.”
Sheriff Lesley Johnston told Stewart: “The complainer was unknown to you and this attack was a violent one and resulted in his injury – it does look to be serious.
“I think it’s simply a matter of luck that a more extensive injury wasn’t caused, given the manner of the assault on him.
“You have previous convictions for assault and meet the custody threshold and I have considered this today.”
But the sheriff resolved that if she was to impose a short custodial sentence it would “do nothing” to address his problems.
As an alternative to a prison sentence, Sheriff Johnston ordered Stewart, of Kingsfield Road, Kintore, to carry out 225 hours of unpaid work as part of a community with 12 months supervision.
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