A man who continued to smoke his cigarette after hitting another man in the eye with it has been jailed.
William MacRae assaulted Andrew Maclean after being accused of hitting one of the victim’s friends earlier in the night.
After hitting him with the cigarette, the 36-year-old continued to smoke while Mr Maclean sought medical help.
The attack happened on Alness High Street on February 28 this year.
Fiscal depute Roderick Urquhart told the court the incident happened while the two men were smoking outside the Commercial Hotel in Alness just before midnight.
He said after being hit with the cigarette, Mr Maclean went inside and immediately removed his contact lens.
He suffered a “conjunctival blister” on the surface of his eye but medical staff said he would suffer no lasting effects.
Mr Urquhart said: “In our last contact with him in July, Mr Maclean said his eye was now sensitive to light and wind. He has also had difficulty putting in his contact lenses.
“It is his opinion that the contact lens ensured the injury was not more severe.”
MacRae’s solicitor Christopher Maitland told the court that the incident had been captured on CCTV, which had shown his client continuing to smoke the cigarette afterwards.
He argued that this showed that the contact was not serious enough to extinguish the end of the lit cigarette.
Mr Maitland added: “His position today is one of regret and he is very sorry.
“He is grateful the injury, as bad as it is, is not as serious as it could have been.”
Sheriff Margaret Neilson jailed MacRae for 18 months, backdated to June when he had initially been taken into custody.