An ex-soldier launched a vicious attack on a fellow pub-goer who claimed not to like football, Perth Sheriff Court heard.
Connor Campbell punched his victim repeatedly in the face at Twa Tams in Scott Street on July 23.
Campbell, of Logie Crescent, Perth, also shouted an offensive remark-something he excused as “typical army banter.”
The 34-year-old stood trial on Monday accused of carrying out an assault aggravated by homophobia. However, after hearing from witnesses Sheriff Foulis said he did not believe any prejudice could be proved beyond reasonable doubt.
The complainer, who described himself as “openly gay,” had been on a night out with his partner and a few friends.
At around 9pm he went outside to the beer garden for a cigarette and began chatting to a group about the World Cup.
The man told the court, “I made a flippant comment about not really liking football anyway, when a stranger shouted across that I was ‘a poof.’
“I asked him what his problem was and went back inside to my table. Twenty-five seconds later I was struck in the face.”
A female witness said she saw Campbell swing at least two punches, leaving the victim “bloodied and shaken.”AmbiguousThe woman said she heard Campbell use the word “gay” but was unsure if he was aware of the other man’s sexuality.
Campbell, who admitted carrying out the attack, maintained that in his drunken state he was implying the man “was a bit of a jessie for not liking football.”
He told the court, “I had been out since lunchtime celebrating my brother’s birthday and was very drunk.
“I accept that I assaulted him, which I am very sorry and deeply embarrassed about, but I did not do it because he was homosexual. I had never met him before and didn’t know anything about him. I simply used a slang term on the spur of the moment when he said he didn’t like football.
“I was in the army for nine years where humour can be quite different. I have a number of friends who are homosexual.”
Defence solicitor Kevin Hampton said, “It was boorish, aggressive behaviour but it was not homophobic. He did not know the man was gay. My client offered a guilty plea to the assault charge at an intermediate diet but this was not accepted by the Crown.”
Sheriff Foulis fined Campbell, who is unemployed, £300 and ordered him to pay his victim £250 in compensation.
He also banned him from setting foot in Twa Tams for 12 months. He told him, “I convict you of assaulting the victim by punching him repeatedly to his injury but I am not satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that this offence was aggravated.
“This in my view was an unprovoked attack and even without the aggravation it is a serious matter.”