Accused threw plant pot at man

AN OBAN man has been sentenced to 240 hours of unpaid work for assaulting another man with a plant pot.

Luke Gordon, 21, of 24 Combie Court, Oban, admitted assaulting and injuring the man by throwing a plant pot at his head on New Year’s Day this year.

Procurator fiscal Eoin McGinty told Oban Sheriff Court on Tuesday April 25 that Gordon had shouted at the man: ‘You touched my girlfriend,’ before confronting him. ‘They grappled one another,’ Mr McGinty said, ‘then they broke up.

‘The accused picked up a metal plant pot and threw it directly at the complainer. This cut him directly above his eye. He began to bleed profusely. He received a number of stitches.’

Mr McGinty said police traced Gordon and searched his home, finding a blood-stained shirt. Gordon told officers: ‘I did not mean to hit him with it, but I just kind of threw it at him.’ Mr McGinty told the court they were standing directly in front of one another.

Sheriff Ruth Anderson told Gordon: ‘You are going to be one of those young men who spend their time in and out of custody if you do not regulate your behaviour. There is a direct relationship between your violent behaviour and consumption of alcohol.’

Sheriff Anderson imposed a community payback order on him of 240 hours to be completed within nine months, as a direct alternative to custody. ‘If you breach this order,’ she warned, ‘ you go into custody.’