A Fraserburgh man who permanently impaired a fellow pub-goer with a single punch that broke the victim’s cheekbone has had his jail sentence extended by 18 months.
Jodie Forman is already serving a four-and-a-half-year prison term after he and another man abducted a teenager and burned the 17-year-old boy with a red-hot iron.
Now, the 34-year-old will spend even more time behind bars after he admitted knocking out another man with a single blow, during a brutal “premeditated” assault.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard that Forman had been drinking at the Balaclava Bar in Fraserburgh on October 8, 2021, when he left another man permanently impaired.
He had followed another customer of the Shore Street bar out to the smoking area and attacked him with “full force” while his victim wasn’t looking.
Fiscal depute Dylan Missleton said Forman’s victim could only remember going out for a cigarette and then “coming to” on the ground later, before making his way home.
When he woke up feeling confused, dizzy, sick and with a sore cheekbone the next day, he had no recollection of what had happened to him.
“On waking the next day he felt sick and dazed and he was later informed that he had been assaulted and contacted the bar to see if the CCTV captured what had happened to him,” the fiscal said.
“He also contacted NHS 24 who advised him to attend Aberdeen accident and emergency.”
He said the CCTV footage showed Forman following the man outside to the beer garden area and “circling” his unsuspecting victim.
Punched him while he wasn’t looking
“At 22.45pm he appears slightly animated and appears to be circling the complainer, who is completely oblivious to what is going on behind him,” the fiscal added.
“The accused then appears to pick his moment, transfer his eight from his left side then right, and with full force, swings a left hook with a closed fist to the left cheek of the complainer whilst he is looking the other way.
“The complainer collapses to the ground and sits up clearly dazed. The accused exits the area immediately. The complainer is helped up and effectively cradled by a witness.”
Forman’s victim underwent an emergency X-ray and head scan, which found he had a broken left cheekbone and suspected nerve damage.
He had to have surgery to set his cheekbone back and still had no feeling in his left cheek due to the nerve damage.
Forman, of West Road, Fraserburgh, admitted a charge of assault to severe injury and permanent impairment.
His defence Iain Jane said Forman had accepted responsibility and knew that he “deserved prison” for the assault.
He said words had been exchanged inside the bar earlier that night and that Forman’s victim didn’t engage with him when things turned physical.
“Whatever verbal disagreement at either that licensed premises or another one had aggravated the matter,” he said.
Mr Jane added that his client was “known locally in Fraserburgh as somebody with a reputation for fighting” and he had therefore asked to be segregated in prison to keep him from socialising with those known to him at HMP Grampian.
He said Forman is working with the chaplaincy and alcohol abuse counselling serve inside the prison and is motivated by improving himself for his long-term partner and his children.
“He is hoping this will be his only experience of custody,” the solicitor added. “It’s a significant one and one that is only going to be added to today”.
‘You picked your moment’
Sheriff Ian Wallace said it was a “premeditated” attack.
He told him: “This is a serious offence of violence. It was premeditated. You picked your moment.
“You were described as circling him. It was clear that your intention was for this punch to cause as much damage as it could.”
Forman was handed an 18-month custodial sentence that will run consecutively to his current sentence.
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