Could have been worse

AN ORKNEY fisherman has been fined £500 and ordered to pay compensation after carrying out an assault on a night out in Lerwick.

At Lerwick Sheriff Court on Wednesday, 31 year old Stuart Anderson, of 3 Coplands Drive, Stromness, pled guilty to attacking and injuring a man in the town’s Commercial Street in the early hours of 25 January.

Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said that the 31 year old “verbally challenged” his victim, who was drunk and singing songs described as “inoffensive”.

The challenge escalated into a physical assault during which the man suffered cuts and bruises around his face and eyes.

Defence agent Tommy Allan said that Anderson was so drunk he could not remember the incident clearly, but accepted that he “should have walked away”.

Fining Anderson and ordering him to pay his victim £200 compensation, Sheriff Philip Mann said the attack “could have ended a lot worse”.