Police recovered a piece of a man’s nose from his garden after a savage brawl in Buckie.
Colin Reid initially told police that a dog had bitten off part of his nose, however, it later emerged that 20-year-old Thomas Stewart was the culprit.
Inverness Sheriff Court heard that the 20-year-old fought with Mr Reid at his property in Milton Drive, Buckie, on September 1 2023 and caused the vicious injury during the struggle.
Stewart appeared for sentence before Sheriff Eilidh Macdonald represented by Inverness solicitor David Patterson, after a background report had been prepared following his guilty plea to assault to severe injury and permanent disfigurement.
The court was told that officers were dispatched to the property following an anonymous tip-off that Mr Reid had a significant injury.
Fiscal depute Emily Hood said that Mr Reid initially wouldn’t say what had happened to him but he was taken to hospital where he alleged a dog had bitten him.
However the prosecutor said he later admitted that he had been assaulted by Stewart.
Nose bitten off during struggle
Stewart later told police that Reid was on top of him during the struggle where he said he had got “a doing.”
He added: “I did what I had to do to get him off me.”
Ms Hood said that Mr Reid had to undergo plastic surgery to repair the damage.
Mr Patterson said his client had become addicted to crack cocaine at a young age after becoming involved with an older woman.
“But he is now in a stable relationship and when he is sober, he is a pleasant young man. Both were as bad as each other in this incident, which escalated when they were rolling about on the ground. He has been on remand for 280 days.”
However Sheriff Macdonald said she was concerned that Stewart, of Longman Caravan Site, Inverness, was assessed by social workers as being at high risk of reoffending.
She said: “This was a terrible act of violence for a young man. It was appalling.
“Even although you have served a long period on remand, I am not going to draw a line under this today.
“You will carry out 150 hours of unpaid work, which should keep you busy and hopefully out of trouble. And you will be under supervision for one year.
“If you don’t co-operate, you will be going back to jail.”