Man avoids jail over fight which led to knife wound

A fight in a Golspie house led to one man being treated in hospital for a knife wound to his leg and another sustaining a cut hand, a court was told.

Nairn man James Brown, 49, avoided a jail sentence for his part in the fight and was ordered to carry out 300 hours of unpaid community work as an alternative.

He was also placed under 18 months of social work supervision and instructed to participate in a drug treatment programme.

At an earlier hearing, Brown had admitted behaving in a disorderly manner in a house in East Millicent Avenue, Golspie on May 13, and engaging in a struggle whereby Stephen Cummings was stabbed and Aaron Chambers was cut to his injury.

A background report had been called for by Sheriff Margaret Neilson on the divorced father-of-two and he was remanded in custody.

However, he walked free after defence lawyer Marc Dickson said his client had sought help for his addictions while on remand.

He said: “He ran up a considerable debt to dealers and moved from Golspie to Nairn where his daughters live.”

Brown also pled guilty to a second charge of being in possession of a knife in George Street, Nairn, on May 23 last year.

The court heard

“The knife ended up in Stephen Cummings’ upper left leg”

that Brown, who was intoxicated, had been driven to Golspie by a friend and drank cans of beer on the journey.

Once in the house, depute fiscal Robert Weir told the court a fight developed between Brown, who at some point had a knife, and Mr Cummings.

“The knife ended up in Stephen Cummings’ upper left leg, causing it to bleed heavily,” he said.

“Mr Chambers attempted to pull Brown off Mr Cummings and sustained an injury to his right hand caused by the blade of the knife.”

Brown and his friend then left the house with Brown telling him: “I just did him with a knife.”

Mr Weir added that 10 days later, police wanted to speak to Brown about another matter and traced him to George Street.

He was arrested and as he was being placed in the police van, he said: “I’ve got a blade down the back of my trousers.”

Officers recovered a 14inch knife with a 10inch blade, the court heard.