A “cowardly” attacker who fractured another man’s eye socket in an Arbroath nightclub assault has been ordered to pay his victim £2,000 compensation.
Brandon Talbot hit his fiancee’s former boyfriend so hard in the incident that the man had to undergo surgery several days later to repair the damage.
Machinist Talbot was told by a sheriff that the assault in Arbroath’s De Vito’s nightclub has been a “cowardly, unprovoked and vicious attack on someone who didn’t deserve it”.
The 26-year-old accused must also complete 200 hours of unpaid work within a year as part of a Community Payback Order and was fined a further £200 for previously failing to appear in court.
Depute fiscal Stewart Duncan told Forfar Sheriff Court victim Ryan Edwards had been out drinking with friends in Arbroath on July 23 and had gone to the nightclub where, at some point in the early hours, an incident developed.
The complainer then overhead Talbot arguing with his partner and decided to leave the disco, but as he was walking out the accused turned him round by the shoulder and chest and punched him in the face.
When the victim was examined at Ninewells Hospital he was found to have a left orbital fracture which required surgery, which he underwent in early August.
Defence solicitor Nick Markowski said his client wanted to publicly apologise for the incident, of which he had a “fairly limited recollection”.
“The complainer is a former boyfriend of his fiancée, he had been out drinking and in the earlier incident he picked up what was going on wrongly, but that was lost in the environment and the alcohol he had consumed,” the defence agent stated.
“He also realises he’s perhaps fairly fortunate that he is not being prosecuted at a higher level, and that the injury has settled down without any need for further surgical intervention.
“He has taken the opportunity to grow up. He has seen the complainer since and there have been no further difficulties,” said Mr Markowski.
Talbot, of Demondale Road, Arbroath admitted assaulting Mr Edwards to his severe injury in De Vitos, Millgate on July 24 2016.
Sheriff Gregor Murray told him: “You richly deserve to go to prison.”
However, he sheriff said the length of time since the attack happened and the accused’s limited record meant an alternative to prison could be imposed.
