A Strathpeffer man who repeatedly punched and kicked another man and permanently disfigured him escaped a jail sentence because his victim was “not entirely blameless”.
Michael Leckie, 25, of 26 Ord Terrace, appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court for sentence yesterday after admitting injuring Muir Mackay in Lidl’s car park in Dingwall on September 5 last year.
Sentence was deferred for a background report at an earlier hearing and Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood was told by defence lawyer Ian Moir that his client was assessed as “as low risk of re-offending.”
He urged the Sheriff to impose either fine with compensation order or a non custodial sentence.
Sheriff Fleetwood replied: “We should be wary of compensation unless the complainer is entirely blameless and I am not considering a fine.
“This is a case where if you kick someone on the head, the starting point is jail. The only thing that persuades me not to is your comparative lack of record.”
He ordered Leckie to carry out the maximum 300 hours of unpaid community work.
Fiscal depute Roderick Urquhart said earlier: “There are contradictory statements as to how the violence began. Perhaps the most reliable account is from an 18-year-old.
“He said that he saw a group of four or five men walking together in the direction of Lidl’s car park. He thought the men looked like friends he suspected they were about to “do drugs.
“Instead when they reached the car park he saw a fight break out with Leckie and Muir Mackay having “a proper go at each other. It gave the appearance of a pre-arranged “square go. While Muir Mackay was still on the ground, Leckie proceeded to punch and kick him repeatedly on the head.”
Mackay had a broken nose, a swollen black eye, a cut to his left eyelid and was off work for five to six weeks.
ends