An Inverness man assaulted his neighbour and then told him: “If you grass I’ll kill you”.
Steven Martin had been drinking and smoking cannabis with his neighbours when an argument broke out as Martin played on the man’s recently purchased slot machine.
Martin then assaulted his victim and smashed the machine before issuing the chilling warning.
The 31-year-old appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court to admit charges of assault and malicious damage in relation to the incident on December 11 2022.
Fiscal depute Naomi Duffy-Welsh told the court that the victim and his girlfriend met Martin at the Blacksmiths Pub on Keppoch Road.
After chatting to each other they realised that “they only lived a few doors away from each other”.
Martin, who had been playing pool with a friend, invited the couple to come to his house, where the group drank more and smoked cannabis.
Mr Duffy-Welsh said: “During this time the witness mentioned that he had just purchased a puggy machine, so the group left the accused house and walked round to the witness’ house.”
By this time it was around 5am and the group sat in the living room, where Martin was playing on the slot machine when an argument began and “the accused punched the witness twice on the head”.
Victim left ‘semi-conscious’ after assault
The man was left bleeding heavily from the head and in a “semi-conscious state.”
Martin’s friend restrained him but he escaped the man’s grip.
“He ran back into the living room, picked up an empty glass beer bottle from the floor and began to threaten the witness with it, shouting words to the effect of: ‘If you grass I’ll kill you’.”
Before leaving the house, Martin pushed over the slot machine, which smashed onto a tiled coffee table and television set, damaging all three “beyond repair”. He also smashed the oven door.
The cost of the damage was estimated to be between £800 and £1,000.
Victim suffered head injury
Police and ambulance were called to the scene and the victim taken to Raigmore Hospital where he was found to have wounds to his head.
The accused was traced and detained and also received medical treatment.
Martin’s solicitor, Clare Russell, asked Sheriff Cruickshank to call for presentencing reports, which he did.
Ordering a criminal justice social work report and a restriction of liberty assessment Sheriff Cruiskshank adjourned the case until next month, when the mitigation will be heard.
Martin, of Galloway Drive, Culloden, was released on bail in the meantime.
