A Falklands war veteran who promised never to hurt anyone again after he was wounded in the conflict savagely beat a friend.
Richard Wilson, who joined the Royal Engineers at the age of 16 and was then seriously injured in the South Atlantic conflict, cried when he confessed to repeatedly kicking his friend’s head.
Peter MacTavish suffered a fractured skull in the attack in a house in Beauly’s Priory Court on May 21.
The 53-year-old’s assault caused Mr MacTavish to fall and strike his head on a chair and left him needing stitches.
Wilson, of Station Road, Beauly, admitted assaulting him to severe injury and permanent disfigurement.
At Inverness Sheriff Court yesterday, he was jailed for 18 months by Sheriff Margaret Neilson.
She was told by defence solicitor advocate Shahid Latif that his client had been medically discharged from the Army at the age of 19 and his life went downhill after that.
He said: “He found readjustment to civilian life challenging and was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder and mixed personality disorder.
“He developed a reliance on heroin and alcohol and suffers from frequent black-outs. He is ashamed of the barbarian way he acted, and that is a direct quote from him.
“He is repulsed by his behaviour. Fundamentally he is a good man who has done a bad thing.”
At an earlier hearing, fiscal depute Roderick Urquhart told the court that Wilson was drinking with Mr MacTavish and two other men, including householder Allan MacAskill.
Mr Urquhart said: “During the early afternoon, Allan MacAskill was awoken by Wilson shaking him and saying, ‘I’ve done something wrong. I’ve kicked the boy in the face’. He was crying as he said this.”
Mr MacTavish recalled waking upon the living room floor in a pool of blood, but had no idea what happened.