A man has been jailed after a brutal and unprovoked attack at Belladrum music festival.
Michael Anderson lashed out at the man after his ex-girlfriend refused to rekindle their relationship, Inverness Sheriff Court was told.
The 27-year-old’s single punch broke his victim’s jaw, knocked out several teeth and left him with pain that he continues almost two years on.
Fiscal depute Emily Hood said Anderson, of Burns Crescent, Muir of Ord, had just spoken to his ex-partner at the popular music event on July 29 2022 when he carried out the assault on the innocent bystander.
She said: “He became upset that she wouldn’t resume their relationship. She got up to walk away and the accused ran towards the man and punched him on the face once.”
Anderson’s punch caused significant damage to his victim’s mouth, which required surgery to insert three metal plates to fuse the same number of fractures.
‘He is deeply remorseful’
Ms Hood told Sheriff Sara Matheson that the man also lost several teeth, was on a liquid diet for a long period and was off work for five months.
She added: “He was advised that numbness in his jaw may be permanent.
“He also experiences random pain across the bottom half of his teeth.”
Anderson admitted assault to severe injury and permanent impairment and sentence was previously deferred for a background report.
Defence solicitor Marc Dickson told the court: “He is deeply remorseful at what occurred. He does not have a great recollection of what happened here but that is no excuse.
“He had been at his grandmother’s funeral earlier in the day and had been persuaded by his grandfather to go to the festival.
“He believes he was given a substance which may have been MDMA and he had consumed a large quantity of alcohol.
“He woke up the following day with no knowledge of what happened until he was advised of the incident and that he had participated.”
Jailing Anderson for 30 months, Sheriff Matheson told him it was her public duty to severely deal with such incidents.
“You have two previous convictions for assault causing injury and severe injury,” she said.
“This assault was completely unprovoked – and your victim describes it as having filled his days with pain, fear and debilitating anxiety.”