A man who attempted to defuse an argument in a Moray pub was assaulted and left with permanent scarring, Elgin Sheriff Court heard yesterday.
Daniel Drennan, 32, headbutted Michael McEwan during a heated exchange between two feuding groups in the Victoria public house in Rothes on Saturday, October 18, last year.
The court heard Drennan’s brother Thomas had been thrown out of the same bar the weekend before following “an altercation” with another man.
Fiscal Alison Wyllie said that on the evening in question there remained “some bad feeling” between customers who had been involved in the previous fracas.
She explained: “Various parties got involved in an argument, and the complainer, Michael McEwan, decided to try and break this up.
“But the accused grabbed him and headbutted him in the face, which created a 3cm permanent scar on his upper lip and caused his dental plate to break.”
Drennan’s solicitor, Stephen Carty, said there had been a “tense atmosphere” in the pub as a result of the previous weekend’s encounter.
“And it seemed as if there was going to be, in essence, round two”, he added.
Drennan, of 57 New Street in Buckie, was charged with butting Michael McEwan to the face, to his severe and permanent injury.
Mr McEwan was taken to Dr Gray’s Hospital in Elgin immediately after the assault, and had to have plastic surgery at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary to repair the damage.
Mr Carty said: “My client accepts that his reaction was over the top, in that he did headbutt this gentleman.
“It was unnecessary for him, in the circumstances, to do that.”
Sheriff John Halley told Drennan: “You pleaded guilty to a serious offence, which caused a nasty injury – and I infer that the blow from the headbutt must have been a significant one.”
The sheriff ordered Drennan to pay a £400 fine and £200 in compensation to his victim.