News / £500 fine for single punch
A THIRTY TWO year old man who knocked another man unconscious with a single punch has been fined £500 and warned it was fortunate there were not “disastrous consequences”.
(Name removed under Right to be Forgotten rules), of Dunkeld, Perth, punched the man on the head at Lerwick’s Commercial Road on 14 September last year, knocking him to the ground.
Lerwick Sheriff Court heard that the blow landed by (name removed) – which followed what procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie described as “light-hearted banter” and “playful” shoves between the two – thankfully did not cause any serious injuries.
Defence agent Tommy Allan said his client, who has joint custody of his two young children, had just received some very bad news about his partner’s father – who has now passed away – and had been drinking heavily on the day in question.
He was in Shetland at the time working on an accommodation barge, but subsequently lost that job.
Allan said it was something his client “very much regrets, and he has come here hoping to put it behind him”.
Sheriff Philip Mann told (Name removed) it was not long ago that he sent someone in Shetland to prison due to the severity of the injuries caused by a fall resulting from a single punch.
Committing such an assault is a “very, very risky thing to do” and can have “the most serious and long-lasting consequences”, the sheriff said.
The £500 fine was reduced from £750 to reflect (name removed) early guilty plea.
Meanwhile a 39 year old former Shetland resident who has admitted supplying heroin at an address at Grodians, Lerwick has been warned she could face prison.
Pauline Flaws, of Belville Street, Greenock, had her case adjourned to allow for background reports to be prepared.
She pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of the class A substance on 26 February last year. Flaws’ bail was continued and the case was adjourned until 18 February.
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