A teenage offshore worker earning almost £50,000 a year has been hammered with a four-figure fine after a broad daylight metal baseball attack on a man in a Forfar street.
Ellis Crombie got out of a parked car to launch the brutal assault on Paul Hosie, but despite the nature of the weapon and the blows the 18-year-old struck, the victim escaped with just bruising and cuts.
A sheriff told the young thug that a full-time job with a high income and lack of record had helped him avoid prison, but that instead he would be “hit in the pocket very hard indeed” with a £3,000 fine.
Crombie, of Cornhill Drive, Aberdeen appeared for sentence at Forfar Sheriff Court having previously admitted assaulting Mr Hosie in the Angus town’s Market Street on February 23 this year with a metal baseball bat, and possessing an offensive weapon.
Depute fiscal Stewart Duncan said the victim and a friend were walking in the street around 11am when they saw a parked Volkswagen containing the accused.
Crombie was known to his victim as a result of what the court heard were previous difficulties involving the accused’s family.
“The accused got out of the vehicle and hit him (Hosie) with an unknown object,” added the fiscal.
“The accused was then attempting to strike him again and was hit at least twice with a small metal baseball bat in the ribcage area.”
Crombie then got into the car and drove off, the court heard.
The victim suffered head and elbow injuries as well as bruised ribs.
Defence solicitor Michael Boyd said: “He fully accepts responsibility for matters. There is a wider dispute which he recognises he should not have got involved in.
“He is also fully aware of the seriousness of this matter and the potential of a custodial sentence.”
The solicitor said Crombie was currently subject to a Community Payback Order imposed at Aberdeen, but his offshore work – which pays up to £4,000 per month – ruled out the option of a Restriction of Liberty Order being imposed.
Sheriff Gregor Murray told the teenager: “I could easily send you to jail for this.
“However, it is reasonably clear from the report that this is hopefully the final point of a burst of offending – you are already on two community-based orders.
“I would much prefer as an alternative to prison to order you to carry out a significant amount of unpaid work but I can’t place you on a CPO so the choice is to defer, or to hit you in the pocket very hard and I have chosen to hit you in the pocket very hard indeed.”
Crombie must pay the fine at £400 per month.
