A Fife man has been jailed for 20 months for battering someone with a shovel in a horrific Halloween house party assault.
Sean Campbell repeatedly struck his victim on the head and body with the weapon in the life-endangering assault at an address in Crosshill.
Dunfermline Sheriff Court heard previously the man spent three days in the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.
Sentencing
Campbell, 27, appeared this week for sentencing.
Sheriff Krista Johnston told him: “You used a very considerable weapon and considerable violence.”
Campbell interrupted to say he was “so sorry”.
The sheriff continued: “You are extremely lucky the injuries did not manifest in a more serious way on this man.”
She later said: “I consider this was a violent attack with a heavy weapon on a man who sustained considerable injuries and whose life you endangered.
“The harm you caused was considerable and I consider only a custodial sentence appropriate”.
Sheriff Johnston jailed Campbell for 20 months, reduced from 27 given the stage of his guilty plea.
Sheriff Johnston said the sentence is mitigated by Campbell’s adverse childhood experiences and mental health difficulties, remorse, steps taken to address alcohol and drug issues and his lack of offending since the assault.
The court heard Campbell does have previous convictions, including for similar matters, and offending aggravated by use of weapons.
Halloween horror
The court previously heard Campbell was on bail when he attended the house party in Crosshill.
Fiscal depute Douglas Thomson said the argument at the October 29 2022 party had spilled into the garden, where two people began fighting.
Campbell ran towards one and repeatedly hit him with a shovel, then left before police arrived.
They found him later at home in Keltyhill Road, Kelty, with the shovel in a bedroom.
His victim, meanwhile, was slurring his speech and said he could not see and was taken to hospital with cuts to his head.
Campbell previously pled guilty to assault to severe injury, permanent disfigurement and life endangerment.
He was on bail at the time and was on a community payback order imposed before the assault.
Mitigation
In mitigation, defence lawyer Alexander Flett had argued for a non-custodial sentence.
The solicitor said the consequences of Campbell’s actions “could have been catastrophic” but fortunately, the complainer effectively made a full recovery.
He said Campbell had not gone looking for trouble but reacted to an ongoing incident, a reaction linked to his mental health issues.
The solicitor said: “Mr Campbell has done his best to address these issues and hopes he will not react in the same way if a similar situation were to arise”.
For more local court content visit our page or join us on Facebook.
