A 24 year old Aviemore man who accidentally shot his friend in the face was told by a Sheriff: “Alcohol and air rifles don’t mix.”
Stefan Davidson shot his friend David Macdonald with the weapon during a drinking session in Aviemore. The evening continued and the group even went out to venues in the Highland ski resort.
Mr Macdonald woke up in agony the next day and went to hospital – but refused to give police a statement against his friend.
Davidson, of 9 Grampian Court in Aviemore, appeared for sentence at Inverness Sheriff Court yesterday after admitting culpably and recklessly discharging the firearm in a house at MacInnes Place on September 6, last year.
He was ordered to carry out 240 hours of unpaid community work as an alternative to prison and remain under social work supervision for 18 months.
The court was told that Davidson and his pals were drinking and the air rifle, which had been left by another friend, was in a cupboard.
At an earlier hearing, fiscal depute Roderick Urquhart said: “It was taken out for everyone to look at. Victim David Macdonald was less interested and went to the toilet. But when he came back Davidson pointed it at him, said ‘Have that’ and pulled the trigger.
“But the weapon was loaded and a pellet struck Mr Macdonald in his face just above his mouth. Davidson said he was sorry, that he didn’t mean it and he didn’t know it was loaded.
“The following morning, Mr Macdonald was in agony and went to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness where minor surgery was arranged.
“The hospital was obliged to inform the police but Mr Macdonald was not willing to give police a statement against his friend, who paid him £250 to compensate him for lost wages.”
Defence lawyer Marc Dickson said: “All the friends continued drinking after the incident and in fact went out on the town afterwards.
“They remain on good terms despite this and apart from compensating his friend for lost wages, he also had to pay the owner of the rifle for the weapon because the police took it.
“He expresses his regret and publicly apologises to his victim.”