Sentence extended after boiling water attack

A prisoner, serving an extended seven-year sentence for assault, was jailed for a further 33 months last week after he threw boiling water, mixed with sugar, over another inmate known as the “prison bully”.

Rickie Tait suffered severe burns in the attack at Perth Prison and was initially taken to PRI, the sheriff court was told.

He was then transferred to the Plastic Surgery Unit at Dundee’s Ninewells Hospital, where he was treated for injuries to the left side of his forehead and scalp.

His left arm was also“bandaged from his shoulder to his wrist”following the incident at Perth’s Edinburgh Road jail on April 15, 2019.

Thirty-six-year-old Shaun Dunn was just a few weeks into his lengthy sentence, imposed after he held a blade to a student’s throat in a robbery bid.

Sheriff Pino di Emidio previously described the boiling water attack as a “pre-emptive strike”and had called for a background report before sentencing the accused for the“deliberate attack.”

Dunn admitted pouring the mixture of water and sugar over Tait to his“severe injury”- but part of the charge which alleged he had put the other man in a headlock and that the injuries were to his permanent disfigurement were deleted.

Depute fiscal Michael Sweeney said the incident took place in Cell 28, occupied by Tait, in the prison’s A Hall, about 8.30am.

Prison officers responded after hearing a“crashing noise”and discovered the floor of the cell was wet and sticky.

An update on the injured prisoner showed that his burns were“healing well.”

Solicitor Bruce Short said his client was serving four-and-a-half years in jail, to be followed by two-and-a-half years’ supervision.

The lawyer claimed his client had been threatened by Tait the previous day and he was“fearful for himself.”