The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Man’s fight for life after single punch
LEVEN: Boxer Mark McNeill admitted assaulting 25-year-old in Leven pub
A man was left fighting for his life after he was felled by a single punch outside a Leven pub.
The 25-year-old was knocked to the ground by Mark McNeill, 23, and struck his head on the ground just days before Christmas.
He remains in hospital almost 10 weeks later and may be left with permanent cognitive impairment.
McNeill, a member of a local boxing club, admitted the assault when he appeared at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court yesterday.
He will be sentenced next month.
The court heard the victim had tried to reason with McNeill after he had challenged his friend to a fight in Wallace’s Bar.
Paramedics found him largely unresponsive and he was rushed to Victoria Hospital, in Kirkcaldy, then transferred to the Western General Hospital, in Edinburgh, following the incident on December 22.
A 25-year-old man felled by a single punch by a boxer could be left permanently impaired.
Mark McNeill’s victim remains in hospital almost 10 weeks after he was punched outside a Leven pub just before Christmas.
The man fell and struck his head and was found lying in the road by paramedics.
He was rushed to Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy, where he had surgery to remove a blood clot from his brain.
He was then transferred to the Western General Hospital, in Edinburgh, where he was placed on a ventilator.
He remains in recovery at Cameron Hospital, Windygates.
At Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court yesterday depute fiscal Claire Bremner said: “There is a strong possibility he will be left with cognitive impairment.”
McNeill, 23, a prisoner at Perth, admitted assaulting the man and causing him to fall in Branch Street,
Leven, on December 22 last year, to his severe injury, permanent impairment and to the danger of his life.
He also admitted acting in a threatening and abusive manner towards the victim’s friend Keith Parker, who he challenged to a fight and chased, and later to struggling violently with police officers in Castle Crescent, Kennoway.
Sentence on McNeill, who was a member of a local boxing club, was deferred for background reports until March 23.
The two victims were in Wallace’s Bar when McNeill began arguing with Mr Parker and challenged him to a fight, which Mr Parker refused.
As they waited for a taxi outside, McNeill approached them again and there was an altercation.
Mr Parker’s friend tried to reason with McNeill and the punch was dealt.
Ms Bremner said the casualty was taken to the resuscitation room at Victoria Hospital.
She said: “Surgery was performed to remove a blood clot from his brain and his brain was swollen. His condition was deemed life-threatening.”
The patient’s girlfriend had publicly thanked staff at the Western General in a social media post last month for “bringing him back to us”.
Describing him as an “invincible human being” who was making progress day-by-day, she said: “It’s been a tough four weeks but he made it.”
“There is a strong possibility he will be left with cognitive impairment. DEPUTE FISCAL CLAIRE BREMNER