A Fife thug broke a female pub singer’s nose with an “accidental” punch at a Cowdenbeath pub.
Drunken Aaron Kyle was being escorted out of Partners bar in the town’s high street when he struck the woman in the face.
She had been booked to sing at an event at the bar that evening, October 27 last year.
Kyle, 38, who was unknown to her, arrived around 9:30pm and “seemed to be heavily intoxicated,” the fiscal said.
The woman attempted to encourage Kyle to leave, while standing by the entrance.
Prosecutor Annie Henderson told the Dunfermline Sheriff Court: “He assaulted (her) by punching her with the left hand with a clenched fist to the bridge of her nose.”
Police were contacted and found the woman with blood on her face.
Kyle was later traced on Cowdenbeath‘s High Street and replied: “f**k you” when charged.
The fiscal depute said the victim suffered a fractured nose, which required to be straightened at hospital.
Post-birthday memory loss
Kyle, of East Quality Street, Dysart – formerly of Lochgelly and Kelty – pled guilty to assault to severe injury.
Defence lawyer Alexander Flett said Kyle “does not have a great recollection of what happened”.
The solicitor noted the incident was the day after his birthday, which he had been celebrating and consumed too much alcohol.
Mr Flett said Kyle had been in an altercation with another man and the punch was thrown at him and hit the innocent singer by mistake.
The lawyer, arguing for a non-custodial sentence, said Kyle seems to have learned from a recent spell in custody and is cooperating with a community order.
Recent crimes
In June this year, Kyle was found guilty after trial of domestically abusing a woman over a period spanning April 2019 to October 2023.
This included brandishing a can of deodorant and a lighter and threatening to set his victim on fire, seizing her by the throat, dragging her along the floor, and repeatedly demanding to know her movements.
He was sentenced to the maximum 300 hours of unpaid work and told to complete a project aimed at rehabilitating domestic offenders.
The sentencing sheriff said the case should “never have been on summary complaint”.
In January this year, Kyle was jailed for 324 days for dealing cannabis and racially abusing a police officer by calling him an “English c***”.
He had originally been given a community payback order for being concerned in the supply of the class B drugs in Lochgelly but had only completed 29 of 300 unpaid work hours.
Sentencing
This week, Sheriff Neil Kinnear told Kyle: “The dangers of drink I’m sure everyone knows about and you must be aware of the fact being very, very drunk does not excuse it.
“You maybe threw a punch at someone else but the fact is this poor lady took the full force of the blow and ended up with a broken nose”
The sheriff said spending six months in prison seems to have been a lesson for Kyle and that he would follow the recommendation in a social work report.
Sheriff Kinnear sentenced Kyle to a six-month curfew and made a £200 compensation order for the “pain and inconvenience, difficulty and unpleasantness sustained due to injury”.
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