A Dundee man who shot another man in the head outside a pub in a ”crime of appalling violence” has been jailed for two years.
Edward Cree (57), of Dens Road, had targeted Paul Furey with an air rifle beside the Shakespeare Bar in Hilltown following an argument last summer.
Cree had told police: ”I got my shooter and I went and shot him” after the incident, which left his 47-year-old victim with a head wound.
Dundee Sheriff Court heard on Tuesday that Mr Furey had been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder following the attack.
Cree had previously admitted discharging an air rifle and striking Mr Furey on the head with a pellet to his injury and danger to life in Hilltown on July 31.
The court heard previously that he had driven to the pub with the weapon on the back seat of his car after Julie Cook received a call at Cree’s home from Mr Furey her former boyfriend asking if Cree was ”still the big man”.
Cree had parked his car beside the pub and stepped out of the vehicle, before lifting the rifle to his shoulder and aiming it at Mr Furey.
Mr Furey, believing the air rifle wasn’t loaded, started running towards Cree and felt a ‘ping’ against his forehead.
Witnesses reported a scuffle between Cree, Mr Furey and Julie Cook in the middle of the road. When a witness asked Mr Furey to stop, he shouted: ”He’s just shot me”.
Police arrived and separated Cree and Mr Furey, who told officers: ”He’s got a gun”.
In a victim impact statement read out at court on Tuesday, Mr Furey said he had since been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder.
The statement read: ”I seldom go out in the evenings and I feel insecure. I suffered an injury to my forehead and required surgery. I have felt depressed since the incident thinking about what could have happened that night for instance loss of an eye or worse.”
After the sentence was handed down, Mr Furey said he was satisfied with the jail term.
He said: ”Two years seems about right. I just want to put it all behind me and get on with things.”
Sheriff Alastair Duff told Cree: ”This was a crime of appalling violence.”
Cree will also be placed under a supervised release order for nine months following completion of his jail term.