Thug avoids jail term for street attack

Victim had a collapsed lung

A man who was involved in a brutal street attack in Hamilton has avoided a prison sentence.

Andrew Hawkins was ordered to carry out 300 hours of unpaid community work when he appeared at Hamilton Sheriff Court. He will be under supervision for 18 months.

The court heard victim Christopher Innes suffered a broken nose and a collapsed lung. Witnesses saw him being struck with a baseball bat, but he refused to help police and claimed he’d simply fallen over.

However, eyewitness evidence linked Hawkins (32), of George Court, Hamilton, to the attack. He admitted assaulting Mr Innes to his severe injury at the Co-op in Burnbank Court and in nearby Dalziel Street on August 29 last year.

Mr Innes was attacked by a number of people and was punched, kicked, hit with a baseball bat and stabbed with a sharp weapon of some kind.

But Hawkins’s solicitor, Nigel Scullion, said he pleaded guilty on the basis that he hadn’t used either weapon.

Michael Macintosh, prosecuting, said the attack happened about 8.25pm. Witnesses saw Mr Innes being chased from the shop by people including Hawkins who had a black eye and was bleeding from his lip.

One of the group had a baseball bat and Mr Innes was struck several times.

While he was on the ground Hawkins could be seen kicking him on the head and body.

Mr Macintosh told the court: “Passers by called the police, but officers found Mr Innes completely unco-operative.

“He claimed he had fallen over and had no idea if he had been assaulted.”

Witnesses identified Hawkins as being involved in the attack.

He was the only person charged.

Mr Macintosh said the assault victim had “multiple abrasions and bruising to his head, chest and abdomen”.

Examination revealed a broken nose and a collapsed lung.