Longridge thug battered boy in the face

Nov 26 2009 by Alistair Watson, West Lothian Courier

A THUG told a court he headbutted and punched a 12-year-old boy because he thought was bullying his brother.

Livingston Sheriff Court heard Jordan Morrison, 18, gave his victim two black eyes and smashed his nose in his violent assault.

Fiscal depute Alastair Learmont said the victim had been with a male friend speaking to a group of girls in Longridge when Morrison approached on a bicycle and braked suddenly next to the group.

Mr Learmont added: “The complainer asked why he had done this. The accused said he should stop being cheeky.

“There was a verbal exchange between them and then the accused put his bike down and went up the complainer.

“He punched the complainer to the face striking his left eye and then punched him to the right eye.

“He then headbutted him on the face striking his nose and causing it to bleed.

“Morrison then landed a few more punches to the complainer’s face. Throughout this he was saying ‘You think you are funny’.

“The complainer’s friend ran to the complainer’s home to get help and the accused got on his bike and cycled off.”

Last week at the court Morrison, whose address was given as Northfield Crescent, Longridge, pled guilty to assaulting the 12-year-old to his injury.

His solicitor Andy Aitken said: “It is accepted from the outset that this level of aggression from a young man will always be of concern to the court whether he has previous convictions or not.

“He was firmly of the belief that the complainer had been bullying his younger brother.

“He had been given a deferral of sentence to show he could be of good behaviour but he did not take it and if he had he could expected a more lenient sentence than he faces today.

“But since the offence, which will be dealt with in Airdrie on December 9, there has been no further offending.

“This is a young man who has anger management issues. He appears to be at a high risk of future harmful behaviour and that is what leads me to say that he may well benefit from a period on probation.”

The court heard Morrison had been given a £75 fiscal fine in November 2008 and had only paid £40 of it.

Sheriff Martin Edington said he was going to defer sentence on the teenager for two weeks to allow him to pay the balance of the fine.

Sheriff Edington added: “If you do then I have an idea about what I am going to with you.

“If you do not pay this money then all bets are off and you remain liable to all sentencing options.”