Attack turned me into a recluse, claims football fan
A football fan who claims he was battered by a rival supporter at Paisley’s main train station says he has become a recluse.
Aberdeen fan Robert Burnett, 61, said he was attacked at Paisley Gilmour Street by a man wearing a Celtic scarf after the Scottish League Cup final.
Yesterday at Paisley Sheriff Court, Mr Burnett said he was left needing stitches and claimed the incident has left him suffering headaches and dizziness.
He was giving evidence on the first day of David Mackie’s trial.
Mackie, 53, denies two charges of assault – one involving Mr Burnett and another involving Mr Burnett’s wife Gwen.
Prosecutors claim he punched Mr Burnett on the head, knocking him to the ground, and then rained punches and kicks on his head, rendering him unconscious and leaving him severely injured.
This is said to have happened on November 27, 2016, just a few hours after Celtic beat Aberdeen at Hampden.
Mackie, of Lochore Avenue,
Paisley, denies a second charge of assaulting Mrs Burnett by pushing her to the ground to her severe injury – as she suffered a broken ankle.
Mr Burnett was the first witness called in the case, telling the court he had been at Hampden with his wife to watch the game, which Celtic won 3- 0 thanks to goals from Tom Rogic, James Forrest and Moussa Dembélé.
Joiner Mr Burnett said he had a few Tia Marias before the game and around four or five after it in Glasgow city centre.
He then made his way back home to Paisley on the train.
He told the court he was set upon by two men when they arrived at the station and walked along platform four.
He explained: “I felt as if I was getting held or something from behind. It was like a bear hug.
“I felt a punch. There were a few punches. I felt as though my arms were being held and I couldn’t move.
“I ended up on the ground. I was trying to get myself free. I remember getting kicked on the head and the body.
“I was trying to fight back. I was trying to get up but I was disorientated.
“My head was spinning by that time.
“I ended up back on the ground again and I saw my wife lying on the ground at that point – she was screaming.
“I think she was thrown to the ground. Her ankle snapped.
“After it, I took a seizure when I was lying on the platform.
“Some people came to help afterwards – a porter and an offduty doctor.”
Mr Burnett said the bigger of the two men had held him back and that the smaller one, who had been wearing what he thought was a Celtic scarf, had been the one who was hitting him.
He explained: “The big one apologised. He said sorry and was shouting at the one who was walking away.
“He said ‘You used to be a friend of mine, but you’re not now’.”
Mr Burnett said he was taken to Paisley’s Royal Alexandra Hospital where he was given stitches for his wounds, which included a cut over his eye, a cut to the back of the head and bruising to his eye, nose and legs.
He said he was kept in hospital for 24 hours and is still on medication as a result of the incident now – some 20 months later – as he suffers from dizziness and headaches.
And he said the incident had a lasting effect on him mentally, explaining: “I feel a bit insecure.
“Usually, when you go out, you feel safe. You start looking at people. You don’t know what’s going to happen.
“You think everything’s going to be okay . You don’t expect anything like that to happen. “I don’t do so much now. “I don’t go out as much as I did. “I rarely go out now.” Mr Burnett conceded under cross-examination from defence solicitor Gordon Ritchie that the scarf he had said was “a Celtic scarf” was in fact and green and white tartan scarf, which had no mention of the football club on it.
And, when asked what team he would expect someone to support if they had been described by someone else as “a Fenian b******”, he said the Premiership Champions.
Mackie denies both assaults and has entered a special defence of self-defence, claiming any violence from him towards Mr Burnett was done to protect himself.
The trial before Sheriff David Pender continues.
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