A woman ended up with stitches to her face after a brawl broke out when her boyfriend lobbed a bag of chips at his ex.
Jack Allen, 21, and his partner were driving down Turriff’s High Street when they happened past her former boyfriend, Grant Taylor.
He was with his current partner, Vicky Proctor, having just left a nightclub in the town at around 10pm.
Hand gestures exchanged
Banff Sheriff Court heard as they drove past, Allen’s passenger “showed her middle finger” to the couple.
Mr Grant responded by giving a “thumbs up gesture”.
Fiscal depute Claire Stewart explained: “Mr Allen got out of the car and punched [Mr Taylor] to the right side of his face.
“[Mr Taylor] tried to push him away and there was a struggle between the two of them.
“[Miss Proctor] attempted to intervene and got between the two parties.”
The court heard the two men wrestled each other to the ground before Allen tried to throw another punch at Mr Grant. He missed and hit Miss Proctor instead.
Stitches to face
Mr Grant escaped without needing any medical attention, but Miss Proctor needed to get five stitches – two on the outside of her lip and three on the inside.
Allen pleaded guilty to the offence yesterday.
Allen’s defence agent Stuart Beveridge explained his client’s recollection of events involved “something being thrown at his car” and said there had been “an exchange of gestures before that”.
He continued: “He reacted to that.
Potato-based missile
“He recalls getting out of the car and a bag of chips was thrown at him.”
He told the court his client had accepted Miss Proctor was injured, but that he had no recollection of what had happened, adding: “There was no intention to attack her, but he accepts that she fell to the ground because of his actions.
“He was only 19 at the time, there has been an element of growing up.”
Sheriff Robert MacDonald told Allen he “could not continue” acting in that manner of “nonsense”, or else he would be “heading for jail”.
He said: “The moment you stopped your car; you were going to get lifted for something.”
He ordered Allen, of Redroofs, Sunnyhill in Turriff, to carry out 135 hours of unpaid work and gave him one year to complete it.
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