A man who committed a one punch-assault that knocked his victim out has been told: “This is how people die.”
Joshua Jack hit the man during an altercation over money, Inverness Sheriff Court heard.
His victim fell to the ground unconscious and was taken to hospital with bruising and a cut to his nose.
During a sentencing hearing at Inverness Sheriff Court, Sheriff Gary Aitken remarked: “This is how people die, one punch, they go down.”
Jack, 28, appeared before Sheriff Aitken having previously admitted a single charge of assault to severe injury in relation to the incident on February 8 this year.
One-punch assault over ‘disagreement’
Fiscal depute David Morton told the court that it was just before 1am when Jack and his victim met at Max’s takeaway in the city centre.
He said the man agreed to provide Jack with a sum of money and the pair went to the cashpoint outside WH Smith on High Street.
But once there there was “some sort of disagreement about the previously agreed money withdrawal” after which Jack punched the man to the head.
“This caused him to fall to the ground and be unconscious for a period,” Mr Morton said.
The assault was captured on CCTV, with footage showing that Jack delivered a single punch with his right hand.
Solicitor Marc Dickson, for Jack, said his client had since “taken steps to ensure that something like this doesn’t happen again”.
‘One punch and they go down’
He acknowledged the seriousness of the crime, to which Sheriff Aitken interjected: “This is how people die, one punch and they go down and we are in the High Court for culpable homicide.”
Mr Dickson told the Sheriff his client was now “trying to better himself”.
Sheriff Aitken said: “Mr Jack, there is a lot in the background report that is positive.
“What is not positive is your history of violent offending and an assault on an apparent stranger, while heavily under the influence of substances and for no particular reason.
“It could have been a great deal worse.”
He placed Jack, of Highfield Avenue, Inverness, on a community payback order, requiring him to complete 180 hours of unpaid work within 18 months.
