Court is told of man biting ear

A MAN who bit another’s ear in a fight and then acted aggressively in Oban’s hospital has been ordered to pay £1,000 in compensation and carry out 260 hours of unpaid work.

An August trial found Darren Reid, 28, of 5 Downcraig Grove, Glasgow, guilty of assaulting the man at an Oban hotel on October 7 last year, when Reid engaged him in a stand-up fight and bit him on the ear to his severe injury and disfigurement.

Reid had admitted assaulting, obstructing or hindering a doctor and clerical officer at the Lorn and Islands District General Hospital that night by swearing and acting in an aggressive manner.

Defence agent Anne Ritchie told Oban Sheriff Court on Tuesday November 7: ‘None of the events reflects well on Mr Reid. Serious injury was inflicted. The injury and assault took place in a fight. There was no planning in this.’

Sheriff Patrick Hughes said: ‘This was an extremely serious offence. A man was left permanently disfigured. There was no need for it. It was essentially a drunken punch-up which you took to a different level. There was no planning.’

Sheriff Hughes sentenced Reid to a community payback order of 260 hours of unpaid work to be completed within 18 months, ordered him to pay £1,000 in compensation, banned him from entering Oban or Ganavan for two years, and imposed a curfew between 7pm and 5am each day for nine months.

He added that Reid could expect automatic custody if he breached these conditions or came before the court in a violent case.