A day at the races proved to be costly for a Blairgowrie man after he was fined £1,000 for getting involved in a drunken assault.
William Mahoney had been at Perth Racecourse with his friends on August 20 when one of the group was approached by two men demanding money, the town’s sheriff court heard on Tuesday.
Although there was an altercation following this, with one person being hit on the head with a bottle, the parties soon went their separate ways.
Later that evening, however, while Mahoney was waiting to be served at a kebab shop on Perth’s South Methven Street, the pair from the racecourse appeared at the window of the premises.
Solicitor Steve Lafferty told the court: ”They were shouting abuse and challenging the accused and his friends to fight. My client accepts that he ran after the complainer and almost rugby tackled him to the ground and punched him as described.”
The incident was witnessed by two police officers, who saw the 24-year-old chase one of the men and punch him twice on the head before pushing him over.
Mahoney was arrested and taken to divisional headquarters on Barrack Street, while his victim was assessed at the scene.
”There did not appear to be any injuries,” added depute fiscal Carol Whyte. ”The arresting officers were also of the opinion that the accused was heavily under the influence of alcohol.”
Mahoney, of Leitfie Terrace, admitted that on August 20, on South Methven Street, he assaulted a man by punching him twice on the head and pushing him to the ground.
During sentencing, Sheriff Lindsay Foulis highlighted the accused’s previous record, which includes a nine-month period of imprisonment for assault to severe injury.
He said: ”Less than a year later you are involved in another assault where alcohol was taken. I suspect alcohol was a factor in the previous matter.”
He added: ”There may have been some prior incident with the complainer and his uncle and I am certainly prepared to accept that. But, at the time, there was absolutely no need for you to get involved.
”I suspect that it was only by a result of good fortune that no injury was caused and you aren’t going back to custody.”
Sheriff Foulis also warned Mahoney about becoming involved in any further alcohol-related incidents.
He said: ”You are in a much better position than a lot of folk your age and if you continue to drink to excess and get into these scrapes, you will lose your employment because you will lose your liberty.”