Jailed for iron attack on teen

Victim struck on head with heavy appliance

A Stirling thug who broke into a teenager’s house with a pal and battered the youngster with steam iron was this week jailed for two years.

Curtis White, who carried the attack out with a pal, struck victim Kieran Robertson on the head with the heavy metal appliance while Mr Robertson, 19, was asleep on his own sofa.

The attackers then fled, leaving Mr Robertson in a pool of blood.

The incident occurred after Mr Robertson, who had earlier been at his uncle’s house nearby, returned to his home in Raploch where he lived alone, and went to sleep in the living room.

In the early hours of August 17, 2017, Mr Robertson became aware of banging coming from his front door.

A fiscal depute had previously told Stirling Sheriff Court: “Although woken by the noise he was still in a slumber of sorts and suddenly felt himself being struck on the head.

“He felt pain to his head and blood running down the back of his neck.

“Looking up, he saw the accused and another male, who thereafter ran from the property.

“Looking down, he saw on the floor his iron, which was bloodstained.

“Blood was covering the area where he had been sleeping, and blood was coming from the back of his head.”

Mr Robertson left his flat to go to his aunt and uncle’s house a short distance away, noticing, as he left, that there was damage to his front door “suggesting a person had kicked it and forced it open”.

Police and an ambulance were contacted, and Mr Robertson was rushed to hospital where doctors found two three-centimetre wounds on his head, which were closed with steristrips and surgical glue. He was also suffering from dizziness and confusion.

White and the other man, named as Hayden Stewart, were traced and arrested.

White, of Woodside Road, Raploch, pleaded guilty to breaking into Mr Robertson’s home in Hazelbank Gardens, Raploch, and assaulting him with the iron.

The court was told that Stewart, 20, had tendered a similar guilty plea earlier last year, and was jailed for 16 months.

On Wednesday, White’s agent Ken Dalling recognised that Sheriff Wyllie Robertson’s “first consideration” would be custody.

He explained the accused had a chaotic lifestyle, “but a supportive family” and “some history of employment.”

There was a job available for him through family connections, he added.

White, said Mr Dalling, was “in a better place” to make positive changes to his life. A period of remand imposed by the sheriff, he added, “could be seen as a turning point for him.”

However, given the gravity of the offence, Sheriff Robertson sentenced White to 24 months’ imprisonment backdated to December 5. The term was reduced from 27 months to take account of his guilty plea tendered “albeit late” at the trial diet.

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