The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Fife boxer fractures man’s skull
COURT: Disabled man attacked in club
A Fife boxer who knocked out and fractured the skull of a one-handed man in a Kirkcaldy nightclub claimed he was acting in self-defence.
Joseph Crombie, 25, was found guilty under provocation of assaulting Marcin Dybowski when he appeared at Dunfermline Sheriff Court.
Mr Dybowski sustained two skull fractures and suffered bleeding to the brain after the incident in Kittys and Kandy in November 2015.
Crombie had denied the assault but admitted a second charge of possessing cocaine. He told the jury he was “intimidated” by Mr Dybowski, who he claimed had insulted him and was behaving in a threatening manner.
However, Mr Dybowski – whose left hand has been amputated – said he believes Crombie may have assaulted him for speaking Polish.
After a two-day trial, the jury delivered a verdict of guilty under provocation. Crombie will be sentenced next year.
A boxer punched and knocked out a disabled man in a Fife nightclub, causing him a serious brain injury.
The victim, who sustained two fractures to his skull and suffered bleeding to the brain, only has one hand.
However, Joseph Crombie said he felt intimidated by him and believed he was going to be attacked before he threw a single punch knocking the man out.
A court saw CCTV video of the incident, showing the victim being punched, collapsing and lying motionless on the ground.
Crombie, 25, of Aitken Street, Kirkcaldy, denied that on November 15 last year at Kittys and Kandy, Hunter Street, Kirkcaldy, he assaulted Marcin Dybowski by punching him on the head, knocking him to the ground and rendering him unconscious to his severe injury.
He admitted a second charge of being in possession of cocaine at Kirkcaldy police station on the same day.
Business owner Mr Dybowski, 40, told Dunfermline Sheriff Court he had gone to the nightclub with his wife and other family members. He had only been there for around 10 minutes when he was attacked in the smoking area.
The victim said his next memory was coming around in the Victoria Hospital with police asking him questions.
Mr Dybowski, who gave his evidence through a translator, said he had not spoken to anyone else in the smoking area apart from his cousin.
“I speak Polish and my English is very limited. Maybe this man heard me speaking Polish. Maybe it was on racist grounds I was assaulted.”
Mr Dybowski, who has lived in the UK since 2007 and has his own company hiring out trailers, said he had spent two and a half days in hospital after the assault and then had to return twice.
Mr Crombie told the court he had been acting in self-defence.
He said Mr Dybowski had called him “p**f” and “gay boy”. He added: “I felt intimidated. He was taller than me. In his face, his eyes, he turned very angry. “I thought he was going to hit me. “It all happened in a split second. I threw one punch.”
Mr Crombie said he had never seen Mr Dybowski before and did not know of his disability until he saw it in court.
Asked about his amateur boxing career, he said he been a member of a club from the age of eight to 12.
The jury delivered a verdict of guilty under provocation.
Mr Crombie had previously admitted the cocaine charge.
Sheriff Charles MacNair deferred sentence for reports until January 10.