A man who thumped an underage drinker when the teenager refused to hand over his booze has been ordered to undergo his own alcohol treatment programme.
Adam Stewart punched the 15-year-old on the head in the Forfar attack, which his solicitor said he was now “embarrassed and ashamed” at carrying out.
At Forfar Sheriff Court, Stewart, 26, of the town’s Easterbank, admitted assaulting the 15-year-old boy in Glenogil Terrace on May 15 last year.
Depute fiscal Jill Drummond said the victim was one of a group of underage drinkers in the street around 9pm.
“They were then joined by another witness and the accused,” she said. “The accused requested that the 15-year-old boy hand over the drink and an altercation occurred between them.”
Stewart punched the boy on the head and he contacted his mother to tell her what had happened, asking her to pick him up at the nearby Asda store.
The depute fiscal continued: “His mother picked him up and noticed that her son was covered in blood and had swelling to the left side of his face.”
The youngster was taken initially to the local minor injuries unit, but then advised to go to Ninewells Accident and Emergency, in Dundee, where he was X-rayed but no fractures were found.
Stewart’s lawyer, Nick Markowski, said his client regretted the incident.
“He is embarrassed and ashamed, it was an offence committed under the influence of alcohol,” he said.
“He was going to a family member’s house at the time.
“That particular street has been blighted by anti-social behaviour, there was a confrontation between the group and one of his associates and then he got involved with the complainer and accepts he struck him when he shouldn’t have.”
Sheriff Pino Di Emidio imposed a community payback order including one year supervision and alcohol programme requirements, as well as 90 hours of unpaid work which must be completed within six months.