Fife man lost the sight in his eye after bottle was hurled in his face
A Fife house-warming party ended in horror when one of the guests had a bottle hurled into his face by a would-be gatecrasher.
The victim, Stewart Drummond, lost the sight in his eye, struck by glass from the shattered bottle.
Two teenagers have now been found guilty by a jury of offences committed in the early hours of the morning in Cowdenbeath High Street.
Further tragedy followed when weeks after the incident Mr Drummond was found dead.
The trial was shown CCTV of 19-year-old Logan Docherty and John Crawford (18), both carrying bottles in the High Street shortly before the offences.
They tried to get into the building where the party was taking place and were confronted by four males, who went outside to the street to tell them to leave.
Crawford was brandishing a metal pole and Docherty threw the bottle from a distance of six or seven feet into the face of Mr Drummond.
He was helped upstairs back into the flat by his friend with blood pouring from his wound before being rushed to hospital.
Docherty, of Johnston Park, Cowdenbeath, was found guilty of assaulting Stewart Drummond, now deceased, on 2nd December last year at High Street, by throwing a glass bottle at him, which struck him on the head causing the bottle to smash to his severe injury, permanent disfigurement and permanent impairment.
Crawford, of Primmer Place, Cowdenbeath, was convicted of a charge of shouting, swearing, repeatedly making threats of violence and brandishing a metal pole.
He was also found guilty of being in possession of an offensive weapon, a metal pole.
Paul Cunningham was at the party and was next to Mr Drummond in an alley outside the flat when he was injured.
He identified Docherty as the person who threw the bottle and Crawford as the one with the metal pole.
Mr Cunningham described the scene following Mr Drummond’s injury. “He had a massive cut over his eye brow. He was bleeding quite a lot,” he said,
By this time, Crawford was still “hyped up” and Docherty was “telling him to shut up”.
Mr Cunningham also heard Crawford saying, “I’ve got a blade. I’ll kill you all the noo.”
Depute fiscal Alex Kirk in her closing submissions described the injuries to Mr Drummond, recalling the medical evidence heard earlier in the trial.
“He suffered a fracture right cheek bone, a fracture to an orbital bone, his eye was ruptured and he had lost the vision in it. It was not known if he would lose the eye,” she said.
Sheriff Charles MacNair called for reports on Docherty and Crawford. They were released on bail and will be sentenced on 8th January.
