Fan cleared of attack at station

Altercation took place after League Cup final

A disabled Celtic supporter accused of battering two Aberdeen fans at a Paisley train station walked free from court yesterday.

David Mackie was accused of assaulting Dons fans Robert and Gwen Burnett at Paisley Gilmour Street train station just hours after his beloved Celtic thrashed Aberdeen 3-0 in the League Cup final at Hampden on November 27, 2016.

Mr Mackie, who has arthritis in both knees and is awaiting a knee replacement, said he became embroiled in an altercation with the Paisley couple after Mrs Burnett called him and his friend “Fenian b*******.”

He said he was wearing a green Topman scarf on the day in question, which he believed prompted the comment from Mrs Burnett, and that a fight then broke out between him and Mr Burnett, leaving him shocked and scared.

The court heard Mr Mackie is registered disabled because of his knee troubles.

He said he pleaded with Mr Burnett not to fight but he replied “That’ll be f****** right.

“You’re getting it!” and went for him.

Mr Mackie, 53, went on trial at Paisley Sheriff Court this week accused of two assault charges.

Prosecutors claimed he assaulted both Mr Burnett and Mrs Burnett, both 61, at the station.

He denied assaulting Mr Burnett by punching him on the head, knocking him to the ground, and then raining punches and kicks on his head, rendering him unconscious, and leaving him severely injured.

He also denied a charge of assaulting Mrs Burnett by pushing her to the ground, causing her to break her ankle.

Mr Burnett told the court he was left needing 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 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 had a lasting effect on him mentally, basically turning him in to a recluse.

The joiner explained: “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. To be honest, I rarely go out now.”

Mrs Burnett, a cleaner at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley, said she feared she was going to lose her husband on the night of the incident as he fell unconscious following his clash with Mackie.

After viewing CCTV footage of the incident, she said it looked like her husband was the aggressor and she was now unsure as to whether Mackie had thrown her to the floor or if she fell off after jumping on his back as he fought with her husband.

Mr Ma c k i e gav e evidence in his own defence, telling the court Burnett had grabbed him and punched him.

He explained that he only raised his hands towards Burnett to get him to stop strangling him with his scarf.

On Thursday the charge that Mr Mackie, of Lochore Avenue, Paisley, had assaulted Mrs Burnett was dropped by prosecutors.

Yesterday, defence solicitor Gordon Ritchie asked the jury to acquit Mackie of the remaining charge – assaulting Mr Burnett – saying it was the alleged victim who had been the aggressor.

Mr Ritchie pointed out that Mr Burnett had been at court every day for Mr Mackie’s trial despite claiming he rarely leaves the house now, adding: “In terms of a recluse, he’s less like Howard Hughes and more like Kim Kardashian.”

After just 40 minutes of deliberations, the jury found Mr Mackie not guilty of the remaining charge, meaning he had been cleared of all wrongdoing.