An aggressive customer punched a Stirling takeaway employee after being asked to put on a face mask during Covid restrictions.
James Russell had admitted a charge of punching the man on the head at Spice Heaven in Lower Bridge Street while on bail on another matter.
The charge had originally stated Russell had injured the employee, but an amended charge from which mention of injury had been deleted was accepted by the Crown.
The 24-year-old tendered the guilty plea at a trial diet last month, when his not guilty pleas to a further seven charges had been accepted by the Crown.
Fiscal depute Ann Orr told Stirling Sheriff Court on Wednesday the attack took place just before 11pm on September 13, 2021, after Russell and another person had entered Spice Heaven.
She said Russell had not been wearing a mask and when asked by a member of staff to put one on became aggressive.
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When the matter appeared to escalate, Ms Orr added, a second member of staff came through to intervene. It was at that point that Russell punched that member of staff on the face.
Police, who had been in the vicinity, responded to a report involving Spice Heaven and Russell was apprehended.
His agent Virgil Crawford told Sheriff Derek Hamilton that Russell had been released from a custodial sentence, on indictment, in February this year, which had involved assault.
The conviction for the matter before the court was a few days after this release. There was another matter outstanding.
Mr Crawford however pointed out that Russell’s time in custody had “changed things for him”.
He was in a relationship, had secured employment and “seemed to remain drug free”.
He also emphasised the reduced nature of the complaint before the court.
Russell along with co-accused 29-year-old Alexander Sweeney, of Randolph Crescent, had originally faced charges of behaving in a threatening manner – at the city’s Barnton Bar on September 13 and at Spice Heaven on the same date. However, their not guilty pleas were accepted by the Crown.
Russell’s not guilty pleas to charges of assaulting two men on September 13 at the Barnton Bar and a second man at Spice Heaven were also accepted, along with two charges of destroying property - a snooker cue at the Barnton Bar, and a door at Spice Heaven.
Sheriff Hamilton told Russell, of Spey Court, that he would give him a chance to remain out of trouble.
He sentenced him to a community payback order for the Spice Heaven attack comprising two years’ supervision and 200 hours’ unpaid work to be completed within 12 months.
