Plasterer spared jail for Fife garden assault

AFife plasterer who squeezed a man in his own garden so hard he defecated in front of his wife and daughter has been spared imprisonment.

Robbie Hunter, 40, who runs a plastering company in his own name, admitted carrying out a pair of brutal assaults on the man and his daughter at a property in Aithernie Drive in Upper Largo.

Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court was told that on April 22 2020 Hunter had phoned one of the residents at around 3.45pm, sounding “agitated” and then arrived at a property in the street, shouting, swearing and issuing threats.

Hunter, whose address was listed in court papers as being his company’s headquarters at Burnmill

Industrial Estate in Leven, left to cool off but soon returned to carry out two attacks.

In the garden of the same property, Hunter assaulted one of the residents in front of his wife and daughter by repeatedly throwing him to the ground.

He pled guilty to the attack, which saw him place his arms around the man’s body and apply pressure, which in turn forced the man to evacuate his bowels.

Hunter also repeatedly kicked the man before turning his attention to his victim’s daughter.

He again repeatedly threw her to the ground, and while she lay in the garden, he repeatedly punched her head and kicked her.

The court heard the woman suffered injuries, which, had they been more serious, Sheriff Timothy Niven-smith said could have led to a very different sentence.

The sheriff suggested to the court at Hunter’s sentencing that the father had not accepted the seriousness of his actions in a social work interview.

He said: “He attended, had a cooling off period, returned, then embarked on an assault.

“He threw her to the ground, repeatedly punching a female to the head. He repeatedly kicked her while she was on the ground.”

The sheriff later labelled this a “despicable assault upon a female.”

“He squeezed him so hard that (his male victim) defecated himself in the presence of his wife and daughter.

“It’s difficult to imagine a more humiliating set of circumstances.”

His defence solicitor Eilidh Grant said: “He’s taken active steps to address his offending behaviour” and explained Hunter had been on two new types of medication at the time of the offence.

The sheriff chose not to jail the aggressor due to the presumption against short sentences and the impact it would have on his young family and four employees.

“On balance, there is an alternative to custody,” the sheriff told him.

He placed Hunter under supervision for a year and ordered him to complete 185 hours of unpaid work as a direct alternative to custody.

“This was a despicable assault on a female