A teenager has been warned he faces a period in detention after carrying out two brutal assaults.
Sheriff Lindsay Foulis gave Liam Cain a final chance to redeem himself, urging him to make the most of the Right Track Programme to turn his life around.
The 16-year-old appeared in the dock at Perth Sheriff Court, where he admitted hitting a young man so hard that he lost a tooth.
The unprovoked attack came as James Sharp met up with some friends outside the Co-operative store on Rannoch Road.
The group continued walking along towards Newhouse Road, where they started chatting with two females. Without warning, Cain approached Mr Sharp from behind and punched him repeatedly in the face, causing him to fall on to a bench.
Despite flooring his victim, the accused continued to hit him before leaving the scene with some of his pals.
After picking himself up from the ground, Mr Sharp contacted the Broxden Dental Practice for an emergency appointment before contacting Tayside Police.
The following day, he attended at the dentist, where his tooth was temporarily replaced using wire, and, the court heard, he will need further surgery in the future.
The dentist who treated Mr Sharp indicated that it would have taken “considerable” force to remove his tooth completely from the socket.
Officers later traced Cain and, when he was cautioned and charged, he told constables: “Seven of them came up to the door and threatened to stab me.”
The court heard that, just two months later, the accused attacked another person, this time a 14-year-old.
Depute fiscal Rebecca Kynaston said: “There has been a long running feeling of animosity between this witness and the accused. The witness and his friend were walking near to the junction of McLeod Court on Fairfield Avenue at 5.15pm.
“The accused was also on Fairfield Avenue and shouted at him.”
Although the young boy tried to ignore him, Cain approached him and started talking to him before punching his victim on the head and kicking him on the body.”
Ms Kynaston added: “He (Cain) did state to officers that he was unremorseful for his actions and that he was of the opinion that his victim deserved it.”
Solicitor Rosie Scott revealed that, since then, her client had indicated to social workers that he accepted full responsibility for the assault.
She also told Sheriff Foulis that an appearance at court on Tuesday had drilled into him the serious consequences he faced.
“It did him no harm to sit in court yesterday and see someone get sent to prison,” she said
“It has done him no harm to see how serious the court takes matters. He realises he has no excuse for his behaviour.”
Cain, of Firbank Road, Perth, admitted that on November 1 last year, at Rannoch Road, he assaulted a man by repeatedly punching him on the face to his injury.
He also admitted that on January 6, at the junction of MacLeod Court and Fairfield Avenue, he assaulted the young boy by punching and kicking him.
Placing Cain on a structured deferred sentence until July 24, Sheriff Foulis warned him that this was not an easy way out.
He said: “If you engage with the Right Track Programme, then ultimately I will order you, amongst other things, to undertake unpaid work for behaving like a little thug. Put bluntly, I am not prepared to put up with any behaviour like this from people of your age, or indeed anyone else.
“If you don’t move from this path you are going down, you will lose your liberty.”