A Fife man has been cleared of killing a man he assaulted in a “violent and sustained” attack and who died hours later.
Former demolition worker Shaun Mitchell, 30, was convicted of assaulting Arif Mahmood to his injury in Dunfermline town centre on March 22 last year.
But a jury at the High Court in Edinburgh acquitted him of a charge of culpable homicide. There were calls of “scum” and “scummy b*****d” following the verdict.
Judge Lord Beckett told jurors: “It is inevitable the verdict you reached would be a disappointment to some people in the courtroom … You should not be distressed by the reactions of anyone in court. Emotions inevitably run high in a case like this.”
The judge told the jurors that they had carried out their task “absolutely properly”.
Mitchell, of Drummond Square, Lochgelly, had denied killing Mr Mahmood, who was 26. He was found guilty of pursuing him in Queen Anne Street, knocking him to the ground, repeatedly punching, striking and kicking him and following him again and again repeatedly striking him.
Lord Beckett deferred sentence on Mitchell and agreed to continue his bail, but warned he took a serious view of the offence and all sentencing options remained open.
The judge pointed out that having seen CCTV footage of the incident during the trial the way in which Mitchell had finished it was “violent and sustained”.
The court heard the men’s encounter was the result of “a bit of a misunderstanding”.
Gavin Kirkaldy, 26, said he had been a passenger in a car driven by Mr Mahmood, of Osprey Crescent, in Dunfermline, when they got into a confrontation.
He said there was “a bit of a misunderstanding” and Mitchell and his girlfriend, who had also been out in Dunfermline, thought they were being shouted at.
Mr Kirkaldy told the court neither he nor Mr Mahood had been shouting. He said he got out of the car to explain but was hit. Mr Mahmood then got out the car and Mitchell went “after him down the street”.
Mr Kirkaldy said he got in the car and drove down but stopped before reversing the vehicle. He said he thought he had seen Mitchell standing to the side of him in front of a taxi.
The court was shown footage of the street attack on Mr Mahmood during which he was knocked to the ground and repeatedly punched and kicked.
Mitchell, a sales adviser, who had been out drinking with his girlfriend and others, told the court: “That’s not who I am. Even although you see it on CCTV that’s not my normal self.”
He said he did not deny that the drink had some effect on him and admitted that he assaulted Mr Mahmood, but regretted what he had done.
He said that the incident began with “somebody shouting out the car”. He said: “To be honest, I don’t know what he shouted. I know it was aimed at me.”
Mr Mahmood was taken to Queen Margaret Hospital and was in cardiac arrest by the time he arrived and later died. The cause of death was arrhythmia of the heart. He was found to have traces of a drug and had a heart condition.
The Crown argued that on the basis of medical evidence the stress of the assault on Mr Mahmood could be a significant or material cause in his death.
Mr McCormick said there had also been contact with the reversing car but no significant injuries from that.
Defence solicitor advocate Gordon Martin told jurors: “This is quite a difficult and unusual case.” He invited them to convict Mitchell of the assault that they had seen on CCTV footage, but not the charge of culpable homicide.
“My beautiful, handsome brother”
In the days after Arif’s death, his sister posted a heartfelt tribute to her brother online.
Sabrina Mahmood posted a series of pictures of her bodybuilder brother on her Facebook page.
She said: “My beautiful, handsome brother. I just can’t believe it.
“My brother taken too soon. As tough as he may have looked on the outside, he had a heart of gold.
“A big softie at heart. Xxxxx love you Arif. Xxx”
