Two men have avoided a prison sentence after they beat up a 16-year-old boy who approached them wearing a balaclava.
Steven Dunlop, 26, and Rhian Doran, 27, appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court where they admitted getting into a verbal and physical altercation with the teenager and his friends as they stood on George Street in Aberdeen.
It is understood that the teens were wearing balaclavas when one of them accidentally walked into a parked car, sending the two older men into hysterics.
That then sparked the fight, which saw the teenager put in a headlock and punched in the face, the court was told.
CCTV caught assault
Fiscal depute David Ballock told the court that at around 2.15pm on September 3 last year, the teen and his friend were walking along George Street towards Catherine Street when his friend walked into the rear of a vehicle.
Dunlop and Doran were standing on George Street and began laughing at the man, who, in turn, began shouting back. This resulted in them approaching Dunlop and Doran.
CCTV showed that Dunlop kicked one of the males and repeatedly punched him to the head as Doran watched him.
Doran then gets involved and struggles with the youth and puts him into a headlock.
As this is going on, Dunlop steps away for a few moments before returning and, while Doran still has the 16-year-old in the headlock, punches him three times in the face.
Doran then let the youth go and they walk away from the scene.
Police were later able to identify both accused from the CCTV footage.
The pair’s victim attended a dentist on September 4 2024 for an emergency appointment where he was seen to have bruising under his left eye, swollen lips and a front tooth missing.
In the dock, Dunlop and Doran pleaded guilty to one count of assault to injury.
‘A particularly wild young man’
Dunlop’s defence solicitor Graham Morrison told the court that what can be seen on the CCTV footage is two males wearing balaclavas and “there are times when they have things in their hands”.
Mr Morrison said that the males “challenged and threatened” his client and Mr Doran, adding that it’s “all verbal up until then”.
“But when one of them walks into the parked car, Mr Dunlop and his co-accused laugh and that sets the whole off again.
“This is how Mr Dunlop used to behave and he saw himself in these young lads – he was a particularly wild young man, but he’s older now and shouldn’t be doing this.”
Doran’s solicitor, Andrew Ormiston, told the court that the situation escalated into a “physical altercation” after his client had found the masked 16-year-old walking into a car “humorous”.
“These two men were masked and at least one of them had armed themselves with a stone or a brick or something,” the solicitor said.
“But Mr Doran knows he shouldn’t have gotten involved in this at all.”
As an alternative to a prison sentence, Sheriff Philip Mann sentenced Dunlop, of HMP Grampian, and Doran, of Hayton Road, Aberdeen, to a community payback order with supervision for 18 months and ordered each of them both to carry out 225 hours of unpaid work.
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