A prosecutor has told of how shocking video footage of a man subjecting another male to a life-threatening attack helped police bring the “vicious” assailant to justice.
Advocate Depute David Dickson told judge Lord Arthurson on Friday how detectives managed to arrest Andrew Wallace, 48, for attacking a friend in Aberdeen on August 27 2022.
The High Court in Edinburgh heard how Wallace struck his victim on the body and caused him to fall to the ground in a flat in the city’s Marischal Court.
Wallace then repeatedly kicked and stamped on his victim before repeatedly striking him on the head with a broken wooden table leg.
The man needed urgent medical treatment and doctors found that he had a subdural haematoma – a serious condition which arises when a blood vessel in the space between the skull and brain is damaged.
Police Scotland detectives later discovered that the attack had been captured on a mobile phone.
Officers then managed to obtain the footage, which they used to build their case against Wallace, who has 51 previous convictions and has served 33 prison sentences.
On Friday, Wallace, of Aberdeen, pleaded guilty to a charge of assaulting the man to his severe injury and to the danger of his life.
Lord Arthurson told Wallace, who observed proceedings via video link from HMP Grampian, that he needed to go to prison.
Jailing Wallace for five years, Lord Arthurson said: “You have an appalling criminal record. You have accrued 51 previous convictions. You have served 33 custodial sentences.
“On any view, the only appropriate disposal for this offence is the imposition of a custodial disposal.
“This was a cowardly and vicious attack.”
Victim repeatedly struck on head with table leg
Mr Dickson told the court how Wallace had spent the day of August 27 drinking alcohol with his victim and others at a flat in Marischal Court.
The court heard how the pair fell out and Wallace started acting aggressively.
Mr Dickson added: “Both parties began to push and swing at each other. The accused struck the complainer on the body and caused him to fall to the ground.
“During this scuffle, the table in the living room was pushed into the wall and it broke into bits causing the table legs to fall off.
“The accused thereafter repeatedly kicked the complainer on the body, stamped on his body and repeatedly struck him on the head with a wooden leg from the recently broken table.
“The assault, in part, was recorded on a mobile phone. This shows the accused lifting a wooden table leg aligning it with the complainer’s head and striking it on his head twice.
“The complainer is observed attempting to protect himself from the repeated blows to his body.”
Mr Dickson then played the mobile footage in court.
He also told the court that on August 30 2022, a witness phoned the police to tell them about the existence of the mobile phone footage.
Officers visited the victim in hospital later the same day. Doctors told them that he had suffered a subdural haematoma and fractures to his nasal cavity and right inner ear lobe which caused him to “present as partially deaf”.
Detectives then managed to track down the mobile phone footage and watched the recordings of the assault on September 1. Wallace was arrested the same day.
Attacker showed academic promise as a youngster
Defence solicitor advocate Kris Gilmartin told the court that his client developed addiction issues as a teenager after his father died in “tragic circumstances”.
He added: “He has a lengthy record of previous convictions and a history of addiction.
“He had shown academic and sporting promise. He passed examinations and won admission into a prestigious Aberdeenshire school. However, he was bullied and started drinking alcohol.”
He told the court that Wallace and his victim knew each other but had fallen out in the weeks leading up to the assault.
Mr Gilmartin told Lord Arthurson that Wallace was remorseful for his actions and that he had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.
He added: “He was immediately remorseful. Mr Wallace has instructed me to publicly apologise for his behaviour to the complainer.”
Lord Arthurson told Wallace that he’d have received a seven-and-a-half-year prison term if he hadn’t pleaded guilty.