Inverness gang attack teens in court

FOUR teenagers assaulted a man who was out walking with his partner in Inverness.

Sean Davis was walking in Waterloo Place on December 19 last year when he was set upon by the young thugs.

At Inverness Sheriff Court, John O’Kane (19) of Brown Street; Shaun Reilly (18) of Columba Road; Alexander Morrison (19) of Bridgeview Drive, and Daniel McAdie (18) of Carnarc Crescent, all Inverness, admitted assaulting Mr Davis by repeatedly punching him and knocking him to the ground and kneeing him on the body to his injury.

Morrison also admitted committing the offence while on bail.

Depute Fiscal Claire Wilkinson said Mr Davis was walking with his partner when he saw a group of five young men coming towards him.

She said: "An argument broke out and Northern Constabulary’s CCTV system picked up the disturbance. One unknown male started to wrestle with Mr Davis."

The fiscal then described how he was knocked to the ground and the attack continued.

The whole incident lasted a minute and the four attackers walked off towards Grant Street. Mr Davis sustained only slight bruising and swelling.

Sheriff Andrew Berry told the four attackers in the dock: "There are individuals of your age getting long sentences for similar matters."

The sheriff said one punch or kick too many and there was a fine line between the case being dealt with by a sheriff or at a higher court.

“One punch could be the difference between what you did, which was still very serious, and somebody dying.”

He said he found the social inquiry reports very helpful and sentenced all four to 120 hours of community service.