Drunk jumped intofight and attacked taxi driver
A YOUNG man launched himself into the middle of a barney, wrongly thinking he was coming to the defence of a relative.
Kerran Mathieson – alongside another male – assaulted a taxi driver outside a depot in Paisley Road West on April 11, 2016.
The 23-year-old admitted repeatedly punching his victim on the head and kicking him to his injury.
Defending, Mr McKay told Glasgow Sheriff Court that the taxi driver was in the midst of a discussion with his fare when the altercation quickly got physical and violent.
Mathieson, 23, ran out of the taxi office and threw punches at the driver – wrongly thinking that the other man involved in the fight was a family member and he was coming to his aid.
The matter was only brought to an end when the surrounding taxi staff intervened to break the fight up.
Once the nasty barney was over, the accused and his accomplice ran away out of sight, however Mathieson was later traced by police.
The driver was said to have suffered swelling to his face from the assault.
Mr McKay explained that his client had consumed a lot of alcohol and “stupidly got involved” in the altercation.
Mathieson acted compulsively, but did not justify or excuse his behaviour to the court and instead was thoroughly “remorseful and ashamed”.
The accused apologised to the taxi staff after the incident and has since matured significantly and stayed out of trouble after his arrest.
He is now in a stable relationship, has started a family, and has found that the move away from Glasgow to Parkside in Irvine has had a beneficial effect on his behaviour.
The sheriff told Mathieson: “This was disgraceful behaviour and you should be ashamed of yourself.”
The sheriff noted the accused’s positive Criminal Justice Social Work report.
Mathieson was thereafter sentenced to a Community Payback Order.
He will have to complete 250 hours of unpaid work within six months.