A jealous Angus man who smeared pizza over his girlfriend’s face in a drunken row has been ordered to carry out 100 hours unpaid work.
Terence Meighan also punched a hole in a wall after seeing red because the woman had been talking to other men when they went out to the pub during a day of drinking.
At Forfar Sheriff Court, Meighan, of Glenesk Avenue, Montrose pled guilty to assaulting his partner on April 5, throwing a pizza at her and rubbing it in her face, as well as breaching the peace and damaging a wall at their home address.
Depute fiscal Laura McGillvery said the accused and his partner had gone out at around 4pm but during the course of the evening, he became jealous of her speaking to male friends in the pub.
“As a result she decided to go home alone. Around 10.30pm he returned home heavily under the influence and carrying a takeaway pizza box,” the fiscal added.
“Her challenged her about speaking to the males and then threw the pizza at the complainer, then rubbed it in her face and hair.”
Meighan then shouted insults at the woman before police were called.
The accused told officers: “I shoved the pizza in her face and punched the wall instead of her face.”
Defence solicitor Nick Markowski said the 37-year-old had apologised to the woman and is hopeful they will reconcile.
“He is a mature student and she had been off on holiday so they started drinking around 1pm and by the time they went out were both heavily intoxicated,” he said.
“He spent the weekend in custody as a result of this and appeared in court on the Monday morning.”
The solicitor told the court Meighan is in the third year of an audio engineering degree at Perth College.
Sheriff Gregor Murray told Meighan: “Being drunk is no excuse whatsoever for boorish, violent behaviour.”
He ordered Meighan to complete the 100 hours unpaid work within six months under a Community Payback Order.
“If you appear again in relation to similar charges something else might happen,” the sheriff warned the accused.