A jury took just 12 minutes to find a man guilty of a brutal assault on his friend using a makeshift “flamethrower” and a metal walking stick.
Quincy De Gale, known as Bryce, brutally attacked Michael Davidson after turning up at his flat on Berryden Road in the middle of the night.
Bryce, 49, had denied the charge of assault to severe injury and permanent disfigurement – but after a two-day trial, a jury took just over 10 minutes to find him guilty by majority.
Mr Davidson, 44, suffered a catalogue of injuries including a subdural haematoma bleed on the brain and second-degree burns.
Bryce used a deodorant can or similar item and a lighter to blast his terrified victim with flames.
He had claimed Mr Davidson sustained burns by pouring boiling water over himself singing himself with a lighter.
Mr Davidson was woken up by Bryce banging on his window and door around 4.30am on June 8 2022.
Due to the pair having been friends, Mr Davidson let Bryce in but was immediately pushed to the floor.
Bryce claimed victim ‘singed himself’
Bryce, 49, then set about savagely beating his victim with his own metal walking stick and punched and even stamped on his head.
On the second day of the trial, Bryce himself gave evidence and admitted various parts of the assault, including a single punch to the face and three strikes to the body with the walking stick.
He also admitted stamping on Mr Davidson’s head twice, but later seemed to change his mind and said that, while his foot made contact with the man’s head, it was not a “stamp”.
Under questioning from his own solicitor, Mike Monro, Bryce told the court he had gone round to see Mr Davidson because he owed him £50.
He explained that when Mr Davidson opened the door he “fell over his own feet”, rather than being pushed over.
Asked if Mr Davidson had any fresh injuries when he saw him, Bryce replied: “No.”
Asked if he had any idea how Mr Davidson came by the catalogue of injuries he suffered, Bryce replied: “Possibly.”
Bryce also spoke of “questioning” Mr Davidson during the incident and being “disgusted” with him.
Mr Monro asked his client how Mr Davidson may have come by his burn injuries, and Bryce suggested he may have “burned himself” by spilling boiling water from the kettle.
The solicitor pointed out that boiling water could not result in “singed hair”, and Bryce said he had been “smoking drugs” with Mr Davidson a couple of days prior and he had “singed himself” with a lighter.
Bryce accepted he had punched Mr Davidson “square right between the eyes” but denied using a lighter and some kind of gas canister to burn him.
Extended sentence a possibility
However, the jury of nine women and six men saw through Bryce’s lies and took just 12 minutes to return their guilty verdict.
He was found guilty of assaulting Mr Davidson by pushing him on the body, causing him to fall to the floor, repeatedly hitting him on the head and body with with mental poles, and burning his head, body and hair with a lighter and aerosol can or similar item.
He also repeatedly stamped on his head and body, caused him to lose consciousness and grabbed him by the body to prevent him escaping, all to his severe injury and permanent disfigurement.
Sheriff Ian Wallace deferred sentence on Bryce, a prisoner of HMP Grampian, until next month for reports with a view to imposing an extended sentence.
On the first day of the trial, Mr Davidson gave evidence behind a screen and told the court how he feared for his life Bryce set him on fire.
For all the latest court cases in Aberdeen as well as crime and breaking incidents, join our Facebook group.