Man bit off part of ear in homophobic attack

Court: 18 months in jail for horrific unprovoked assault in pub garden area

A man who bit a chunk out of his victim’s ear in a brutal homophobic attack has been jailed for 18 months.

Dylan Wylie, 21, also sat on top of Anthony Simpson during the assault and repeatedly punched him on the face until others dragged him away.

Dundee Sheriff Court heard the two were strangers to each other and their first contact was when Wylie approached Mr Simpson, called him gay, then launched his savage attack.

Depute fiscal Kirsten Thomson told the court the incident happened in the garden area of the Bruce pub in Falkland, Fife, on May 13 last year.

Mr Simpson was waiting for a lift home at 1am when Wylie drunkenly approached him.

The fiscal said: “Without any prior conversation the accused stated to Mr Simpson ‘you are gay’ and said he had been watching him all night before calling him offensive names.

“Mr Simpson asked why he was saying these things and that he doesn’t even know him, then the accused said ‘you’re lucky I don’t knock you out’.

“The accused then prevented Mr Simpson from leaving, which caused him to fall to the ground.

“The accused then sat on top of Mr Simpson and punched him a number of times on the face before biting the top of his left ear.”

Mr Simpson started screaming and shouting “get off” and staff members at the pub came out and pulled Wylie away.

Mr Simpson had a significant amount of blood pouring from his ear and a chunk from the top of his ear was missing.

He recovered the chunk from the pub’s garden area before being taken to hospital via ambulance.

Paramedics bandaged up his ear but doctors at hospital were unable to re-attach the missing chunk as the tissue had already died.

The fiscal added: “Following the incident Mr Simpson says it has significantly impacted on his life and due to the permanent disfigurement on his ear, his daughter gets really upset when she looks at it.

“He says it has also significantly impacted on his relationship with his partner who has been struggling to come to terms with it.”

An agent acting on Wylie’s behalf said: “He had been out drinking with work colleagues. He tells me he had no intentions to fight that night.

“He tells me he has very little recollection of the incident and is remorseful and extremely ashamed of his actions.”

Wylie, of Southfield, Falkland, admitted assaulting Mr Simpson by sitting on top of him, repeatedly punching him and biting off a chunk of his ear, to his severe injury and permanent impairment on May 13 last year.

Mr Simpson asked why he was saying these things and that he doesn’t even know him, then the accused said ‘you’re lucky I don’t knock you out’