A groom will take his vows after being spared jail for stamping on a man’s face.
Ronald Rudden was told that only a lengthy gap in his “nasty” offending record had saved him from imprisonment as the accused’s anxious bride-to be sat in the public gallery at Forfar sheriff court waiting to hear her fiance’s fate.
Rudden appeared for sentence following the preparation of a criminal justice report after he previously admitted a summary level complaint of assaulting Fraser Smith in Montrose’s Hume Street in June last year by placing his foot on him, causing him to fall to the ground, and then stamping on his face to his injury.
Defence solicitor Lynne Sturrock told the court her client was due to marry this weekend, but realised the seriousness of the charge to which he had pled guilty.
She said the victim of the assault was well known to the accused and also no stranger to the courts.
“Mr Rudden is hugely apologetic for his behaviour on this day,” added Ms Sturrock.
Sheriff Gregor Murray said that a major difficulty for the accused, of Charleton Place, Montrose was the presence of an indictment conviction on his record from 2007.
“I could clobber him again,” said the sheriff.
“Anyone who assaults another person in a manner which includes stamping on their face potentially put’s their victim’s life in danger. Fortunately this man was not seriously injured.
“You have a short but nasty record of violence,” he told Rudden.
Sheriff Murray noted that the accused had been fined £1,000 in the previous jury case, adding: “I would be amply justified in jailing you for this offence.
“The gap in offending just saves you from jail.”
He also told Rudden that only a limited discount to his sentence could be applied because he had pled guilty at the trial diet in the case and not earlier in the proceedings.
“I will impose an 18-month Community Payback Order with 270 hours of unpaid work, almost the most I can give you,” said Sheriff Murray.