Thug bit off chunk of guard’s ear
Amusement park incident
A drunk thug who bit off part of the ear of a security guard at Motherwell’s M&D’S amusement park was last week jailed for a total of 21 months.
Gary Mcmahon, who has a record for violent behaviour, had been out on early release from a jail term when he carried out the attack on guard Stephen Docherty after being denied entry to the amusement area.
The 26-year-old, of Columba Court, Viewpark, had bit off a 4cm piece of Mr Docherty’s ear on the night of October 16, 2015.
At 9.15pm Mcmahon and a friend were in the amusement area beside a beer garden.
Mcmahon was going between the amusement area and the beer garden and security personnel observed him becoming increasingly drunk.
At about 10.50pm security staff made the decision not to admit Mcmahon to the amusement area due to his condition.
Mcmahon began to complain and tried to barge past the door staff.
He was told by the staff he was not getting in and some of the accused’s friends warned him not to continue trying to get back inside.
Mcmahon approached the door and he and security staff got involved in a huddle.
At this point Mcmahon bit Mr Docherty on the left ear. The accused was pulled away by security personnel and other men. Mcmahon left the scene in a taxi.
Police were contacted and Mr Docherty was taken to accident and emergency as 4cm of tissue had been bitten off from just above his left ear lobe.
The wound was dressed and he attended hospital the following day and a further three times.
Over time the wound had healed itself, the court was told, and Mr Docherty was “generally happy” with its appearance.
Mcmahon (26) had admitted assaulting Mr Docherty to his severe injury. His not guilty plea to a charge of behaving in a threatening and abusive manner had been accepted by the Crown.
His lawyer, Luke O’curry, told Sheriff Douglas Brown last week there was “little to be said in defence of Mr Mcmahon’s actions that day.”
He pointed out, however, that he had a stable job for the first time in his life.
Mcmahon, he added, had mental health problems and asked that a full psychiatric report be carried out before his client was sent to prison.
Sheriff Brown, however, observed that Mcmahon’s health was stable and he was complying with a treatment plan as well as abstaining from alcohol.
He pointed out that the offence was a serious one and Mcmahon had a record for violent offending and therefore had to impose an appropriate sentence.
Noting that Mcmahon had been on early release from a 21-month sentence of imprisonment for assault, he reimposed seven months of that term.
He also sentenced Mcmahon to 14 months’ imprisonment on the charge of assaulting Mr Docherty. The terms were to run consecutively.