A drunken thug who smashed the face of an Angus nightclub bouncer with a single punch has escaped jail by a whisker.
Instead, Luke Falcon was ordered to pay his victim £3,250 in compensation for the assault in Arbroath’s De Vitos nightclub last July when he attacked the door steward in retaliation for being thrown out of the premises, knocking him out for around 15 minutes.
Falcon, 21, from Barry in South Glamorgan, had been visiting Angus when he went out to the busy Arbroath nightspot on July 6, leading to the incident that saw him appear on the serious assault indictment.
Depute fiscal Jim Eodanable told Forfar Sheriff Court the incident happened around 1am as the accused was being put out of the venue by the steward.
“He seemed to take umbrage and, without any warning, approaches the complainer and takes a punch, making contact with his face.”
The fiscal said the victim lost consciousness for around a quarter of an hour, within which there were “periods of wooziness”.
The bouncer was taken by ambulance to A&E at Ninewells Hospital where a fracture of the face was discovered.
“That took the complainer into the realms of a facial surgeon but there was a good outcome to the operation and a full recovery is expected,” added the fiscal.
“The accused was spoken to at the time and his position was that it was out of character, that he was under the influence and he offered his apologies to the victim.”
Falcon’s solicitor told the court his client was full of regret.
“Right from the outset this young man has given me clear instructions to tender a plea of guilty,” the agent said.
“Mr Falcon was extremely intoxicated. He knows this is a very serious matter and he shows genuine remorse for his actions that night.”
He said first offender Falcon was desperate to stay out of jail, but recognised a custodial sentence was likely to be uppermost in the mind of the court.
Social workers in Wales who compiled a report on the accused had indicated that Falcon’s job made it unlikely he could complete an unpaid work order but his agent said the accused was willing to give up his job to comply with any non-custodial disposal.
In addition to the four-figure compensation order, to be paid at the rate of £250 per month, Falcon must complete 200 hours of unpaid work within a year and will be subject to a supervision requirement for 18 months.