A couple assaulted a man, leaving him covered in blood and with a broken nose, following a row over alleged sexual advances.
Stephen Kulik claimed he was defending co-accused Megan Scott after a man tried to give her money for sex.
However, the victim told police that Scott had offered her services as a prostitute to him and when he had ignored her the pair had launched an attack.
Depute fiscal Lisa Marshall told Perth Sheriff Court that the victim had been out drinking with his partner and friends on the night in question.
She said: “The two accused had also been out drinking. Just before 10pm, as the complainer was walking along Old High Street, he met the two accused.
“She offered him services as a prostitute and he ignored her. She took umbrage at this and called over the first accused.”
Kulik struck the man, knocking him to the ground, before repeatedly punching him, while Scott hit the man with the boot she was holding in her hand.
Police patrolling the area found the complainer on his hands and knees in the middle of the road, covered in blood.
Kulik and Scott were found nearby and Kulik told officers: “I was protecting my missus.”
Their victim was taken by ambulance to Perth Royal Infirmary, where he was found to have blood on the surface of his eye, cuts on his face and a broken nose.
Scott’s solicitor, Pauline Cullerton, said the man had approached her client for sex and, fearing she was about to be raped, she had screamed for Kulik.
Billy Sommerville, defending Kulik, said that the victim had initially been reluctant to tell police his version of events.
The pair were sentenced after admitting assaulting the man by punching, kicking and striking him with a boot on January 1.
Kulick, 26, of Dunkeld Road, Perth, was ordered to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work and pay his victim £600 compensation.He was also made the subject of a one-year supervision order. Scott, 21, of Stanley Crescent, Perth, was fined £200.