A 57-year-old boat deckhand with previous convictions for violence narrowly escaped jail yesterday for beating up a ‘defenceless’ 17-year-old girl.
George Pendreigh claimed at his trial it was he who was punched “square in the face” by teenager Diane McVicar and he had only acted in self-defence by grabbing her wrists to restrain her.
But Sheriff Bill Taylor said he had no difficulty in believing Miss MacVicar’s evidence which had been “compelling in its honesty and accuracy”.
Pendreigh called his son, Jorge, to give evidence for him at his trial a month ago at Fort William Sheriff Court, but the sheriff told him yesterday when he appeared for sentence,”Your son told lie after lie, after lie”.
“You got him to perjure himself by you putting him up to it. It was obvious he had difficulty remembering the script.
“Your conduct has been utterly disgraceful.”
The court heard how the young woman had been standing talking to friends in Mallaig after she finished work at the local Steamboat Inn when Pendreigh arrived on the scene.
The friends gradually left whereupon Pendreigh, of nearby Glenrowan, Morar, leaned forward and said in her ear: “Now you don’t have any witnesses.”
She was then grabbed by the hair by the man and punched repeatedly on the side of the head.
Pendreigh denied the May 13 assault in Victoria Place, Mallaig, but was found guilty after trial.
Defence lawyer Hamish Melrose said his client had previous convictions for similar-type violence but the last one was 12 years ago.
Added the solicitor,’He knows he is on the brink of going to jail for what he did.’
The sheriff said he was ‘sorely tempted’ but imposed 250 hours unpaid work instead to be completed in a year.