Victim left unconscious and with facial injuries in Fife street assault

A young man was left unconscious on the ground with serious facial injuries after being assaulted in an Inverkeithing street.

The victim sustained facial fractures including a broken nose and eye socket in the incident which took place near a pub.

The altercation occurred on the day of the Inverkeithing Highland Games last summer when the town was busy and there was a funfair in the High Street.

However, the happy atmosphere turned sour when one of those enjoying a night out with friends was assaulted and punched when lying on the ground.

Jamie Napier later told police that he was acting in self-defence during the incident but also admitted punching Lewis Allen when he was on the ground.

Friends of Mr Allen rushed from the Hat and Ribbon Bar and found him lying unconscious with Napier standing over him.

After a two-day trial at Dunfermline Sheriff Court, Napier, 20, of North Street, Lochgelly, was found guilty of two charges.

On August 4 last year at Back o’ Yards, Inverkeithing, he assaulted Mr Allen by punching him on the face while he was on the ground, to his severe injury.

He was also found guilty of shouting and challenging others to fight, acting under provocation.

Callum Coates, 23, from Inverkeithing, told the court the group of friends had met at his house before going to the fairground. They then went to the Hat and Ribbon and the first he knew of the trouble was when one of the group told him Mr Allen had been assaulted.

He said he saw Napier standing over the injured man, shouting: “Come on then,” with a bottle of Buckfast in his hand.

“I was really angry because of what happened to my friend,” he added. “I was shouting to Jamie Napier: ‘You’re going to get the jail’.

“He ran towards me and dropped his bottle on the ground. I think he went for me but couldn’t get me and then he went up the road again.”

Napier will be sentenced on September 11.