Thug caged for Buckfast bottle ambush on teen

Youth slashed on head during assault in park

A tanked- up brute who ambushed a schoolboy with broken Buckfast bottle has been caged and he will be under supervision when he is released.

Gerald Peacock, 21, slashed the 14-year-old on the head during the random attack at a park bandstand.

Peacock then pulled the youngster’s hoodie by its toggles and repeatedly punched him the face, leaving his victim bloodstained and surrounded by shards of broken glass where he was later found by his dad.

The teenage schoolboy, who cannot be identified, required almost a dozen stitches for wounds to his head and hands when he was treated at the Royal Alexandra Hospital.

Yesterday Peacock appeared at Paisley Sheriff Court for sentencing after pleading guilty to a charge of assault to severe injury and permanent disfigurement on the schoolboy.

Fiscal depute Keri Marshall told the court the victim was meeting friends at Cowan Park in Barrhead when he was set upon by his attacker, who was heavily intoxicated by drink.

She said: “The accused was there upon their arrival. He began aggressively asking ‘who’s that?’

“He was carrying a bottle of Buckfast tonic wine.

“The accused walked towards him holding the neck of a broken bottle in his hand.

“He swung the bottle towards him and struck him on the left side of the head above the ear, causing his head to bleed.

“The complainer raised his hand to protect himself and this caused two fingers to be cut.

“The accused grabbed the complainer by the strings of his hooded top and began to pull him around before repeatedly punching him on the head and face.

“The complainer tried to pull himself away but the accused managed to grab hold, pulling him back and continued to punch him.”

The boy’s dad found him surrounded by blood and broken glass after the attack in Barrhead on November 24 last year.

Defence agent Jonathan Manson said his client had little or no recollection of the incident because he was so out of it on booze.

He said: “The accused comes from an extended family who are well-known in Barrhead.

“He seems to have serious problems with drink. His position is he has very little recollection of what happened.

“He had been drinking. That is why he was in possession of the bottle.

“And he realises he will be sent to custody standing the nature of the charge.”

The lawyer asked the court take into account his early plea of guilty, the time he had already spent in custody, and his young age when considering the sentence.

Sheriff Seith Ireland said the only appropriate disposal was custody given Peacock’s record of previous convictions and the gravity of the crime.

He said: “You have pleaded guilty to assaulting another person with a broken bottle all to their severe injury and permanent disfigurement.

“With full regard to your young age, time on remand and your plea of guilty, your previous convictions include assault to injury by use of a bottle.

“Imprisonment is the only option given the gravity and nature of the offence.”

He jailed Peacock for 20 months and ordered he be subject to a supervised release order for 10 months when he is freed.