Fight proves costly for teenager after fine
A 14-YEAR-OLD was left permanently scarred after a fight with a teenager.
The youngster suffered a half-inch cut to the outside of his lip, and was treated at the community hospital, before being sent to Borders General Hospital, and then to St John’s hospital in Livingston.
Eighteen-year-old Andrew Birney, of Sunnyhill Road, appeared on indictment at Jedburgh Sheriff Court and admitted assaulting the youngster, under provocation, to his injury and permanent disfigurement at Sandbed on June 26 last year.
The pair confronted each other in the early hours of the morning and an argument escalated into a fight.
The court heard the victim considered his scar “hardly noticeable”.
Depute fiscal Ann MacNeill told how both the accused and the victim had been out socialising with friends when they “confronted each other in the early hours of the morning”.
“They had a verbal argument which turned into a fight and during that fight, the pair were punching each other,” explained Ms MacNeill.
She said the youngster suffered a cut to his upper lip and went to the community hospital for treatment.
“He then attended at Borders General Hospital, where steri-strips were applied, and was then referred to St John’s hospital in Livingston,” added Ms MacNeill.
During police interview, Birney admitted the offence but “alluded to provocation”.
Ms MacNeill said the victim had suffered a “light scar, about half-an-inch long, on the outside of his lip”.
“He, himself, says it can hardly be seen,” she con- cluded.
Solicitor Ed Hulme, defending, said his client had been out for a takeaway and met the victim on his way back.
“He says he was in his face, looking for a fight, and that he kept shoving him and pushing him away,” explained Mr Hulme.
“He accepts punching him twice on the face, causing him to fall to the ground, but it is on the basis of provocation.
“The complainer himself says that the scar is not noticeable, unless you know to look for it,” concluded Mr Hulme.
Sheriff Donald Corke fined Birney £200.
“I take into account that this happened some time ago, and you have been in no further trouble,” he told Birney.
“You didn’t go looking for a fight and the permanent disfigurement was not of any great consequence.
“Given your age, the circumstances, and the provocation, I am going to deal with this by a financial penalty,” he concluded.
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Tuesday 21 May 2013
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