Knocked man unconscious

THIRTY seconds of “madness” that left a man unconscious with a fractured cheekbone has left a Burra man carrying out 300 hours of unpaid work and placed under a curfew.

On Wednesday at Lerwick Sheriff Court Craig Ritchie, of 8 Glenburn Road, Hamnavoe, admitted punching a fellow pubgoer on the head, knocking him unconscious and repeatedly punching him to his severe injury and permanent impairment.

Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said the victim received a “significant” fracture on his cheekbone that required surgery in Aberdeen.

He also lost a tooth and still experiences numbness as a result of nerve damage.

Defence agent Tommy Allan argued that the incident was not “prolonged” and that his client had been provoked.

He added that Ritchie had stopped assaulting the man after realising he was unconscious.

Allan said this his client admitted the incident had been the result of a half minute of madness.

But he added that there was little clarity about whether the injuries were sustained as the result of the punch or from the victim falling to the ground.

Sheriff Philip Mann ruled that the Ritchie “set the scene and set the ball rolling by confronting the complainer”.

The sheriff said he was “just persuaded” not to send the man to jail as a result of the uncertainty over when the injury occurred and the duration of the incident.

Instead he gave Ritchie 300 hours of unpaid work and placed him under curfew for four months, during which he is not allowed to leave his home between 7pm and 7am, seven days a week.