Two men who kicked a stranger in the head during an attack at a Fife pub have been warned they face a jail sentence.
Jamie Dick and Kieran Wallace set about Brian Whyte as he enjoyed a Christmas night out with friends at The Exchequer on Kirkcaldy’s High Street.
Mr Whyte had come to the defence of a friend who had got into an argument with the pair.
Dick and Wallace dragged him into a corridor, where CCTV captured them punching and kicking him.
Assault caught on pub CCTV
Fiscal depute Laura McManus told Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court Mr Whyte did not know either accused.
She said: “Mr Whyte had attended the pub on December 28 on a night out with work friends.
“He engaged with the accuseds, who appeared to be arguing with his friend.
“He does not have a clear recollection of what happened next.”
Ms McManus said CCTV showed Wallace in the corridor repeatedly punching Mr Whyte and struggling with him.
Dick ran into shot and was seen kicking Mr Whyte and punching downwards.
Wallace was also seen placing his arm round his victim’s neck, before a glass is thrown, hitting Mr Whyte.
At one point, another male tried to break up the incident.
Police arrived and believing that Mr Whyte may need treatment for a “significant” cut to his lip took him to hospital.
He was later found to have suffered only minor injuries.
Pair found in Kirkcaldy covered in blood
Ms McManus told the court Mr Whyte said he had argued with the group sitting at the next table, adding: “All of a sudden I got smashed in the face with a glass and then I was pulled to the corridor.
“There was two of them laying into me.”
Dick and Wallace were later found on the town’s Esplanade, covered in blood.
Katie Stewart, representing Dick said he had been troubled since the death of his brother and father within a short space of time.
She said he struggled with alcohol issues and as a result could remember little of the incident.
Kerr Sneddon, for Wallace, opted to defer mitigation until sentencing.
High Court warning
Dick, 22, and Wallace, 24, both prisoners at Perth, admitted assaulting Mr Whyte at The Exchequer on December 28 last year.
Sheriff Elizabeth McFarlane told the pair their offence could easily have resulted in High Court proceedings.
She told Wallace custody was “inevitable” due to his record and warned Dick it was “uppermost” in her mind for him also.
She said: “I’ve just heard a narration of a very violent incident with a man who was unknown to you.
“I take a serious view of this.”
The pair was remanded in custody ahead of sentencing next month.
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