An 18-year-old who battered another teenager with a baseball bat at Kirkcaldy bus station has been spared jail.
Jack Somerville’s repeated blows with the weapon left his victim with a cut head, broken thumb and body bruising.
On other occasions while with other youths, Somerville attacked and tried to rob a Just Eat delivery driver and kicked a bus driver.
He was 16 at the time of his offending across Kirkcaldy, between July 17 and August 24.
Somerville, now of Ochiltree Gardens, Edinburgh, appeared at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court for sentencing after earlier pleading guilty to six charges.
Bus station baseball bat battering
At Kirkcaldy bus station on August 17 2023, he assaulted a then-16-year-old male to his severe injury by repeatedly striking him on the head and body with a baseball bat.
Prosecutor Catherine Stevenson told the court the boy had earlier been drinking alcohol with friends on a bus to the Fife town and after consuming what is thought to be drugs, was “unable to stand”.
The teen remained in the vicinity of the bus station and was said to have placed his arms round a female, who was seen to be upset and making reference to him trying to kiss her.
Somerville arrived with a metal baseball bat and the boy was pointed out to him.
The fiscal depute said: “He used a baseball bat to repeatedly strike (the boy) on the head and body.”
The boy, with bloodied face, was helped to his feet and went to stay at a friend’s house.
His concerned mother later reported him missing and after appealing on social media, received a message saying he had been assaulted.
The teen attended hospital the next day and medics found him to have a 1cm laceration to his head and bruising around his left eye, chest, pelvis, left arm and leg.
He also suffered a broken thumb on his right hand.
Just Eat attack
On August 6 2023 at East March Street, Somerville, while acting with another juvenile, repeatedly punched a Just Eat delivery driver on the head and body, made racist remarks to him, tried to pull a bag from his grasp and attempted to rob him.
The offence was proved to be racially-aggravated.
The fiscal depute said the delivery driver went to get a food order from the back of his car and three youths “tried to grab the delivery” but were unsuccessful.
The person expecting the delivery looked out to see Somerville “throw punches” at the delivery driver while calling him a racial slur, the fiscal said.
The homeowner told Somerville to leave and the gang ran off.
Bus driver assaulted
Somerville also admitted assaulting – while acting with another juvenile – a male bus driver at Beatty Crescent on July 17 2023.
He tripped the driver and kicked him on the body to his injury.
The court heard Somerville and other youths were on the bus and a bottle of alcohol was dropped.
The driver removed it and emptied it outside and as the youths got off, Somerville tried to grab the bottle and the driver was tripped up and assaulted.
He managed to get to his feet and back to the safety of the bus cabin, suffering pain in his thumbs from the fall.
Shops chaos
Somerville admitted further charges of stealing alcohol from Greens, St Clair Street, and behaving in a threatening or abusive manner by shouting racist marks at two females there.
He had entered the shop with another boy, despite being banned, and they each ran out with a bottle of booze worth a combined £18.98.
They were heard shouting racist abuse as they left.
Somerville admitted a sixth charge of assaulting a retail worker at Asda, Mitchelston industrial estate, to his injury.
The fiscal said Somerville and another child had been causing “issues” in the Asda store on a “daily basis”.
Somerville was seen on store CCTV with three other boys “running around” and “hitting each other with rolls of wrapping paper” before shop staff successfully herded them out.
The youths returned and Somerville assaulted the staff member by pushing and punching him to the chest.
Sentencing
Defence lawyer Heather Morrison acknowledged the course of “horrendous behaviour” by Somerville, especially the baseball bat assault.
She said it was clear that, during the offending period, he had a lifestyle characterised by an unstable home life and used alcohol as a way of coping.
The lawyer said Somerville had “taken steps” to address his offending and has been of good behaviour since.
She said Somerville now lives in Edinburgh with his grandfather and no longer has contact with the same peers.
The lawyer said he has taken advantage of support offered from an ongoing supervision order, imposed following a previous conviction for malicious mischief.
Sheriff Steven Borthwick gave Somerville 240 hours of unpaid work as an alternative to custody and placed him on offender supervision for two years.
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