THUG SMASHED BOTTLE OVER MAN’S HEAD THEN STOLE HIS PHONE AND TRAINERS IN STREET ATTACK

A man was hit over the head with a bottle of vodka and then robbed of his phone and trainers as he lay on the ground in a Kirkcaldy street.

The bloodied victim, surrounded by broken glass, was kicked as his assailant went through his pockets.

The vicious attack was carried out by 28-year-old Keiran McAlpine, from Kirkcaldy but currently in prison.

He was given more jail time when he appeared by video-link at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court.

McAlpine (pictured) admitted that on 18th August at Caithness Place, Kirkcaldy, he assaulted a man by striking him on the head with a glass bottle causing him to fall to the ground.

He then kicked him on the body, removed his trainers and searched through his pockets, robbing him of a mobile telephone and other items, to his injury.

Depute fiscal Sarah Smith said that at around 6.20pm, witnesses saw McAlpine carry out the attack by hitting the man over the head with a bottle of vodka.

With the victim on the ground and unable to get back up, McAlpine began rummaging through his pockets.

McAlpine pulled the man on to his front to go through his pockets and then removed his trainers.

He then kicked the man before walking away with his mobile phone and trainers.

McAlpine was described as being “intoxicated and aggressive” during the incident and was told to leave the area by witnesses who went to the aid of the victim.

The injured man was also intoxicated and he had sustained cuts to the top of his head and face.

He was taken to the Victoria Hospital where he was treated for cuts to his eyebrow and eyelid, kept in for observation then discharged.

A couple of days later, he returned to the hospital suffering from a headache and was given a CT scan.

Defence solicitor Paul Cook said, “He has an extremely limited recollection of events and was suffering with drugs and alcohol addiction at the time.

“He can’t remember much about it but recognises the awfulness of his actions and knows what he did was totally unacceptable.”

Last year, McAlpine was jailed for 40 months for wilful fire-raising.

For this latest offence, Sheriff Steven Borthwick jailed McAlpine for 23 months to run consecutively to his current term.

In May 2017, McAlpine was jailed for five years for stabbing a man outside a shop in Lochgelly.

The victim’s life was only saved by the quick actions of his friends, who drove him to hospital by car after he was stabbed in the abdomen and liver.

The sheriff told McAlpine on that occasion, “It was only through the very quick-thinking of these two men that the complainer survived this attack. If they had waited for an ambulance, it would not have been an assault charge you were facing.”