Man admonished for role in park attack

A 20-year-old man’s relatively minor role in an attack on another man after he was lured to a Perthshire park was recognised at Perth Sheriff Court.

Justin Nairn, of Precinct Street, Coupar Angus, was admonished and walked free from the court.

Sentence had been deferred for six months and he had been ordered to stay out of further trouble.

Sheriff Keith O’Mahoney told him: “You have not come to the attention of the police during that time.”

Nairn was then told he was free to leave the dock.

A co-accused, Jack Michalak, now 20, of Emma Street, Blairgowrie, was given a community payback order, imposed as a direct alternative to custody, earlier this year.

Twenty-two-year-old victim Jordan Fair had been enticed to Larghan Park, Coupar Angus, with the promise of enjoying a drink with the two accused, one he considered a“good friend.”

But when Mr Fair got there, he was brutally attacked and fell to the ground where the beating continued.

Michalak then sent a text message to the victim’s girlfriend shortly after midnight.

He told her:“See your new boyfriend, I just battered and kicked the f*** out of him.”

And he chillingly added:“He will be hospitalised.

“He was unconscious and (it) will be a surprise if he wasn’t dead.”

Michalak was told to carry out 120 hours of community work within six months and was also supervised for the same length of time.

He admitted that on August 11, 2018, at Larghan Park, Forfar Road, he assaulted Mr Fair by repeatedly kicking and punching him on the head and body to his injury.

A not guilty plea was accepted to a second charge of striking the window of a car with a bottle at the park - and smashing it.

His co-accused, who pled guilty to an amended charge of punching the victim on the head, to his injury, had his sentence deferred.