A teenager stamped on a man’s head and neck until he passed out during a botched robbery in Perth.
Lewis Beveridge set upon his victim on a footpath off Edinburgh Road and demanded: “Empty your pockets and give me everything you’ve got.”
When the man refused, 18-year-old Beveridge threw him to the ground and kicked into his head and body.
Perth Sheriff Court heard it was “good fortune” the victim – who slipped into unconsciousness during the assault – was not more badly injured.
The broad daylight attack happened on July 28 this year – just weeks after Beveridge appeared in court and admitted two other assaults in the city centre.
He appeared via videolink from Polmont Young Offenders Institution and pled guilty to charges of assault, attempted robbery and possession of a knife.
He was remanded in custody and will be sentenced next month.
Victim placed in recovery position
Fiscal depute Emma Farmer told the court: “At about 7.20pm, the victim was walking with a friend along the footpath between Edinburgh Road and Craigie Road.
“He saw the accused, who he recognised as someone he knew through mutual friends.
“But parties were neither friends, nor had they fallen out.”
Beveridge walked up to his victim and demanded he “empty his pockets”.
Ms Farmer said: “When the victim refused to do so, Mr Beveridge repeatedly punched him to the head and body.
“He grabbed him by the shoulders and threw him to the ground.
“Mr Beveridge proceeded to repeatedly kick him to the head and body, before stamping on his head and neck.
“The complainer lost consciousness.”
The court heard the victim’s friend put him the recovery position and called for an ambulance, which rushed him to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee.
The fiscal depute said: “He was found to have abrasions to his back, elbows and forearms.
“There was bruising to the side of his neck and swelling to his forehead.
“A laceration to his ear required to be glued.”
Knife found in drain
The court heard that at about 8pm, a woman heard Beveridge outside her home in Craigie.
She knew him as a friend to her children.
“He entered her home address, shouted ‘I need a knife,’ and left with a knife from the kitchen,” said Ms Farmer.
“Several witnesses who saw the accused in possession of the knife in the street contacted police.”
When officers caught up with Beveridge, he was not carrying the knife but the weapon – which a four-inch blade – was later found, snapped in half, inside a drain.
Good fortune
Sheriff Alison McKay said: “Given Mr Beveridge’s age, I think the appropriate way forward would be defer sentence for an up-to-date report.”
She rejected an application for bail, telling Beveridge: “Whilst it may well be the case that the complainer did not suffer lasting injuries, that seems to be by luck and good fortune rather than as a result of your actions.”
Beveridge, from Scone, has still to be sentenced for separate assaults at Perth’s Sandeman Bar on January 14 and in County Place on November 5, last year.
The court previously heard Beveridge had left his victim injured in the attack at the Kinnoull Street pub, follow a row over the rules of pool.
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