Court / Young man ordered to do unpaid work after admitting assault with metal baton

A TWENTY one year old man has been spared a jail sentence after admitting attacking another man with a metal baton before kicking and stamping on his head.

Matthew Williamson, of Lerwick’s Norgaet, previously pleaded guilty to possessing the weapon and striking the man on the head and body with the baton at an address in Brae on 9 May last year.

He knocked the man to the ground, repeatedly punching and kicking him on the head and body and repeatedly stamping on his head, all to his injury.

Lerwick Sheriff Court heard in December that Williamson had entered a garden shed where the complainer was socialising with a friend.

Williamson had entered the shed and launched into an assault using the solid metal baton “without any preamble or explanation” and had left the imprint of his footwear “quite noticeably” on the complainer’s face. The victim suffered bruising.

Defence agent Tommy Allan said his client was “ashamed” of what he had done and had offered his remorse for the effect on the victim, adding that while Williamson had not enjoyed a “straightforward upbringing” there was “no excuse for that behaviour”.

Allan said it had been an unprovoked assault and Williamson acknowledged he could have faced a custodial sentence, adding he “appreciates he’s very lucky” there was no severe or permanent injury.

Sheriff Ian Cruickshank said an assault of this nature could easily have had fatal consequences and a few years ago would “unquestionably” have resulted in a jail sentence.

But, taking into account soon-to-be-introduced new guidance for the sentencing of young people, he opted for a two-year community payback order under supervision as a direct alternative to custody.

Sheriff Cruickshank ordered Williamson to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work and imposed a £1,000 compensation requirement.