An RAF serviceman has been spared jail after he admitted three assaults in a Lossiemouth pub car park.
George Culley, 20, left one of his victims needing stitches and affected his ability to work.
But his solicitor told the court first-time offender Culley was “ripe for rehabilitation” a suggestion that was accepted by the sheriff, who ordered him to carry out unpaid work.
Culley appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court for sentencing having previously admitted two charges of assault to injury and one of assault to injury, permanent disfigurement and permanent impairment.
A previous hearing heard how one of Culley’s victims had approached him outside the Coulard Inn in Lossiemouth offering a handshake as if to indicate “no hard feelings” before Culley punched him in the face with a closed fist.
Group surrounded victim and accused threw punch
Culley was part of a group that surrounded a second victim and was seen to throw a punch, causing the man to stumble backwards with a cut above his eye.
A third man was targeted by Culley and another, unknown, man who both ran at him and began punching him repeatedly.
The victim was then pinned to a car bonnet with the accused continuing to punch him.
“The accused was noted to be the main aggressor,” fiscal depute Susan Love told the court.
Culley was traced at RAF Lossiemouth and arrested.
The first man was left with a red mark and small scratch, the second with a cut above the eyebrow.
The third man was left with a 2.5-centimetre cut that required stitching and he continues to suffer after-effects, including back pain that has affected his ability to work and play golf.
‘Ripe for rehabilitation’
At the sentencing hearing, solicitor Robert Cruickshank for Culley told the court his client felt “genuine remorse” for his actions and was a first offender who was “ripe for rehabilitation”.
“Consumption of alcohol, while not an excuse, maybe an explanation for this conduct that is patently out of character,” Mr Cruickshank said.
“He assures me that a lesson has been learned.
“He is both ashamed and embarrassed, for himself, but also for his employers and also his parents who he feels he has let down, who he has let down.
“He offers his apology to those it has affected”
Mr Cruickshank told the court that Culley could face further punishment by the RAF, and had already been placed on hold for promotion.
Submitting a character reference to the court, he said: “Sometimes in these courts we talk about an offender’s debt to society, but we also talk about society’s debt to the services.
“Mr Culley may not have been in the services long, but he has embarked on a life of service.”
Sheriff Eilidh MacDonald told Culley: “You may have seen this as some kind of drunken brawl in the car park but the court has seen it as three very serious assaults.
“Others were involved, those others escaped prosecution, you did not. Treat that as a lesson about who you should associate with in future.”
She placed Culley, of Muirton Road, Lossiemouth, on a community payback order with 180 hours of unpaid work in the community as a direct alternative to custody.