Fined for pub brawl

A MAN from Pembrokeshire has been fined £800 for attacking another man in a Lerwick pub in summer last year.

Raymond Batchelor, of 141 Bush Road, Pembroke Dock, admitted pushing the man on the body, causing him to fall to the ground, before repeatedly kicking and punching him on the head and body to his injury, at Captain Flints’ on 2 August.

Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie told Lerwick Sheriff Court on Wednesday that the victim had been assaulted by Batchelor’s “associate” prior to the incident before court.

The complainer, who was described as “very drunk”, had just fallen down the stairs of the pub when Batchelor assaulted him.

The court heard that man only sustained minor injuries and required no formal medical treatment.

Defence agent Tommy Allan said site agent Batchelor was in the pub with workmates after learning that a colleague in South Wales had killed himself.

They were “drowning their sorrows” after being allowed to leave work and were “shocked” by the news they had received.

Advertisement4 of 10

Allan added that everyone involved in the fighting shook hands after the incident and that there was no lasting ill-feeling.

However, the conviction means that Batchelor and his family’s well-developed plans to emigrate to Australia have been called off at great expense.

Fining Batchelor, Sheriff Philip Mann said the man was lucky not be have been standing in the High Court as his actions could have had “catastrophic consequences”.