A 39-year-old man has been found guilty by a jury of beating a woman unconscious in a New Year’s Day attack in Glenrothes.
Steven Heron punched the woman in the face multiple times and repeatedly kicked her to the head during the savage assault at a property in the town’s Ashton Drive.
He was also convicted of assaulting a second woman during the same incident by dragging her out of the property.
A sheriff warned Heron a prison sentence is “very likely” when he returns to court next month.
Victim left unable to speak
Heron, of Glen Street, Edinburgh, went on trial this week at Dunfermline Sheriff Court.
He had denied the charges and blamed another man for the assaults, which took place on January 1 2022.
A jury took just under two hours to deliver majority guilty verdicts on both charges.
Heron was convicted of assaulting his first victim by seizing her by the body, repeatedly punching her on the head causing her to fall to the ground, rendering her unconscious, and repeatedly kicking her on the head, all to her injury and impairment.
He was also found guilty of assaulting Susan Flett by repeatedly seizing her by the body and pulling her body out of the house, all to her injury. This offence was aggravated by involving abuse of a partner or ex partner.
In her closing speech, prosecutor Laura McManus referred to evidence from the second complainer who said Heron punched his first victim in the face “five or six times,” with the last punch knocking her unconscious, and that he kicked her in the face “three or four times”.
Ms McManus told jurors that the first woman said in evidence she “could not speak” after the attack.
The fiscal depute also highlighted independent evidence from a police constable who arrived on scene and confirmed that she was unable to talk.
She said the police officer attended and found the woman under a kitchen table, and that he saw a male who shouted and gestured then ran away.
The fiscal said the officer’s evidence was that the woman was “barely conscious” when he arrived and that her face was “smashed up” and she could “barely move or speak”.
Ms McManus suggested Heron’s claims that he was in another property in a nearby street and that the assault was carried out by another man there did not stack up, particularly when considering the police constable’s evidence.
‘Put your affairs in order’
Jurors were also played a 999 call made by the first woman in which a female voice could be heard saying: “Steven, stop it”.
The court heard father-of-four Heron has previous convictions including one for abduction and theft in 2004.
Sheriff Charles Macnair adjourned sentencing until August 11 to obtain background reports and continued Heron’s bail.
The sheriff told him: “Make no mistake, that’s not any indication that you will be at liberty when you return, so this will give you an opportunity to put your affairs in order in preparation for a custodial sentence.
“That’s not inevitable but it’s very likely”.
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