A single punch caused a man to fall down the stairs in a Lochaber bar, breaking three of his teeth and fracturing his nose, a court heard.
Fort William Sheriff Court was today told that Stuart Cameron, who is a store manager for a local haulage firm, lashed out at Scott Maclean as they were walking up the stairs from the toilets in the Volunteer Arms on the town’s High Street.
The 27-year-old store manager, of 8 Hillview Drive, Corpach, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to assaulting Mr Maclean to his injury on December 21 last year. Sentence was deferred until today for Cameron to take legal advice.
Sheriff Richard Davidson told Cameron it was fortunate Mr Maclean had not been even more seriously hurt.
He said: “The result is that he will have sustained at least cosmetic damage to his teeth and nose that will be with him for the rest of his life.
“These are significant injuries and I assume they were caused by a combination of the blow you struck and the fact he fell down the stairs as a consequence.”
The sheriff added that such behaviour was unacceptable, whatever the circumstances, and he further deferred sentencing Cameron until June 24 for a background report.
Defence solicitor Hamish Melrose told the court his client, who had been out drinking with friends, went down two flights of fairly steep stairs to the toilets. One of his friends then came into the toilets and they were chatting when Mr Maclean arrived and had a row with Cameron’s friend.
He said Cameron and his friend left the toilets and were walking back up the stairs with Mr Maclean behind them.
Mr Melrose said: “I understand some comment was made by the complainer along the lines of ‘Youse both watch your backs’ and that’s when my client struck the complainer, causing him to fall down the first flight of steps.”
He added that Cameron left the pub, but went back in when he saw police arrive and told them they were looking for him.
“He immediately knew he had done something wrong. He describes himself as not being a violent person and immediately held his hands up and told them what he had done.
“I’m sure he did not anticipate the consequences of what he did by striking the complainer once in reaction to what was said,” said the defence solicitor.