A sheriff told a thug who stamped on a man’s head he would have been facing life behind bars had a doctor not been on the scene to save his victim.
Brandon Stuart, 18, was part of a group of youths who set about the man as he walked along Union Terrace with his family en route to a concert.
The teen stamped on the man’s head after he was knocked to the pavement, leaving him with a fractured skull and bleeding on the brain.
He now suffers from headaches and has completely lost his senses of taste and smell following the assault – which was witnessed by singer Eddi Reader.
Sheriff Graeme Napier said: “I suspect had there not been a doctor on the scene he would have been facing life imprisonment.”
But Stuart has now been spared custody after the sheriff ordered him to pay his victim £2,000 in compensation.
He also handed Stuart, of Brebner Crescent, Aberdeen, a seven-month curfew, a two-year supervision order and 240 hours of unpaid work.
Defence agent Gregor Kelly said his client was now “a world away from the young thug” who committed the offence, adding: “I’d submit there has been a sea change since April.
“He has shown the appropriate level of remorse and he knows he will have to live with that and the complainer will have to live with the consequences.”
Stuart pled guilty to assault to severe injury, permanent impairment, permanent disfigurement and to the danger of life over the incident last April 20.
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Depute fiscal Katy Begg previously told Aberdeen Sheriff Court Stuart’s victim had been walking along Union Terrace with his daughter when she was attacked by a member of the group of youths and he tried to intervene.
The fiscal added that as he did so the same member of the group struck him and they became involved in a struggle and he attempted to back away but was repeatedly punched by another member of the group which caused him to fall to the ground.
Ms Begg said: “He struck his head off the pavement and as he lay on the ground the accused stamped once on his head.
“Another male also stamped on his head and they both ran away.
“As a result the complainer was rendered unconscious.
“The assault was witnessed by a number of people including a doctor who administered medical assistance.”
Stuart’s victim had a 6cm laceration to the back of his head which required six staples to close and left a four to five-inch scar.
Ms Begg said: “He also sustained a fractured skull and bleeding and bruising on the front of his brain.”
He now suffers from short-term memory problems and headaches.
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