A man has escaped jail after a brutal attack on a wedding party guest whose girlfriend was bizarrely licked on the face by the new groom.
Neil Fraser was part of a group which set about Portugese national Ricardo Araujo in the car park of the David Lloyd centre at Ethiebeaton as the nuptials erupted in violence.
The 24-year-old, from Graham Place, Dundee was given 300 hours of unpaid work and ordered to pay his victim £3,000 compensation for the stamping attack which a sheriff said could have had very serious consequences.
Fraser previously admitted the serious assault indictment relating to the August 3 incident last year, when the 33-year-old victim had been attending the wedding with his girlfriend.
The court heard that as the reception came to a close, the groom approached the couple and stood behind the woman.
He then licked her face “in jest” but after she turned away told her he would kiss her all over her face.
Mr Araujo took exception to the groom’s behaviour and struck him on the face.
After a minor altercation he was asked to leave, and did so.
However, the victim was then surrounded by a group of five to ten men in the car park among them Fraser.
The accused’s father-in-law tried to confront the complainer, but his glasses were knocked off and in the ensuing commotion the victim was knocked to the ground.
The court was told the victim was repeatedly punched and kicked on the head and body by the group of men.
Witnesses described Fraser as being the main aggressor.
During the assault the victim’s girlfriend lay on top of the complainer in an attempt to protect him.
A bar staff member pulled Fraser away and the victim was left lying on the ground, bleeding heavily from a 2cm by 3.5cm wound to his forehead that required seven stitches.
“As a result of the attack he has suffered from insomnia, anxiety and depression and his relationship with his girlfriend has been affected,” the court was told.
Sheriff Pino Di Emidio said: “You have pled guilty to what, on any view, is a very serious offence involving repeatedly punching and kicking to the head and body to the potential danger of the complainer’s life given the sustained assault in which you were the main aggressor.
“I’ve considered carefully whether I can deal with this matter without imposing a custodial sentence and in the circumstances where you appear as a man with only one previous relatively minor conviction I have concluded that I can.”
The unpaid work element of the Community Payback Order must be completed within one year.