An ice cream shop owner launched a brutal attack on another man after a row over a party.
David Miele kicked Euan Hardy on the head so hard that he was left lying severely injured and unconscious.
The attack took place in the Black Isle Hostel in Academy Street, Inverness, on October 22.
Miele, of the city’s Dunrobin Grove, had denied the charge but was found guilty after trial and sentence was deferred for a background report until yesterday at Inverness Sheriff Court.
Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood ordered him to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work as an alternative to prison. He also ordered 30-year-old Miele to pay Mr Hardy £750 in compensation within 28 days and imposed a six-month supervision order.
Defence solicitor Ken Ferguson said his client had worked a long day and went to the hostel to try to “resolve matters”.
He added: “He has learned a lesson that if such a thing should happen again in the future, he would inform the police.”
Sheriff Fleetwood warned Miele that if he did not complete the community payback order, he would go to jail.
After the sentencing, Mr Hardy said: “I’m glad that I can put it in the past and I am glad that I have a bit of closure on the whole thing.
“I was struggling to process the whole thing happening but now that this verdict has finally been laid out I can really feel I can put the whole thing to rest now.”
