A man who left his opponent in a street fight lying unconscious was yesterday fined £500 by a sheriff who said that the assault could have had serious consequences.
Wick Sheriff Court heard about the incident after the assault victim, Ryan Murray, left Thurso’s Skinandi’s nightclub in the early hours of December 20 last year.
There was an altercation outside between Mr Murray and James Mackay – the two men were said to have previously been on good terms – and Mr Murray was punched once on the head by Mackay, 21, and fell to the ground.
Mr Murray got to his feet and started to walk away but Mackay who had been drinking, followed him into Cowie Lane and there was an argument during which Mr Murray “foolishly” gestured he was up for a fight.
Mackay, a first offender, pushed Mr Murray who fell, striking his head on a metal gate. Despite, the assaulted man being rendered unconscious, the accused left the scene. Passers-by came to Mr Murray’s aid and summoned the emergency services.
Mackay, of Skerray Mains, Sutherland, admitted the assault.
His solicitor, Neil Wilson, said that the apprentice plant operator remembered nothing of the incident which was “completely out of character”. There was a suggestion that it had been triggered by “a disparaging remark” alleged to have been made by Mr Murray, about Mackay’s sister.
The accused had addressed his excessive drinking pattern said Mr Wilson who added: “The incident ,of which he is deeply ashamed, has been a wake-up for for him.”
Sheriff Andrew Berry said that the assault had been a serious one, whether out of character or not and added: “There are people serving very long prison sentences for assaults sometimes involving one punch too many, resulting in serious injuries they never set out to inflict. The consequences can be truly awful.”
