Stirling nightclub punch left victim with brain injury as attacker warned over sentence

The incident took place near a nightclub in the city centre.

A thug whose punch left an agricultural show reveller with a brain injury has been told to expect a long prison sentence if it turns out that rings he was wearing at the time were like knuckledusters.

Rory Hunter, 23, hit his victim with a single punch after he left a nightclub in the early hours of the morning on Goosecroft Road near the new Travelodge building.

He fell to the road, hitting his head on the tarmac.

A court heard that the victim, then 23, had spent the day on June 11 with a friend attending the annual Stirling Agricultural Show.

Afterwards they went to a nightclub and were heading back to their hotel when a car in which Hunter was a passenger tooted at them because they were on the road.

The victim responded by shouting at the car and, as it passed the pair, the occupants of the car heard a bang - as if the vehicle had been struck.

The driver stopped and Hunter got out, approaching the man.

Prosecutor Rachel Hill said: “He punched [the victim] once to the face, at which [he] immediately fell to the ground and was unconscious.”

Passers-by ran to the injured man’s aid as blood poured from his head and face.

The victim’s friend chased after Hunter and began remonstrating with him but the driver of the car told Hunter to get back in and then drove off.

The man was taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary where he had emergency surgery for bleeding on the brain.

He spent a week on a ventilator, and has been left with a permanent five inch scar on his head, a large “dent” from the surgery, and still suffers short-term memory issues.

His recovery is said to be “ongoing, and heading in the right direction”.

CCTV was checked after the incident and the car was traced through the number plate.

Hunter was arrested at home at lunchtime the same day.

Police noted he had injuries to his hand, and after a search under a warrant a number of rings that he had were seized.

The victim’s DNA was found on four of them,

At Stirling Sheriff Court on Tuesday, Hunter, a father-of-one, of Avenue Park, Bridge of Allan, pleaded guilty to assault to severe injury, permanent impairment, permanent disfigurement, and the danger of life.

Hunter sobbed and snivelled in the dock as the facts were narrated.

Solicitor Virgil Crawford, defending, described the assault as “a momentary matter – a single punch”.

Sheriff Derek Hamilton deferred sentence for reports until October 30.

He continued bail, but warned him: “I suggest you use this time to make appropriate arrangements with your family.

“This is an extremely serious matter.

“I should warn you – it is likely you’ll receive a considerable custodial sentence.”

The court heard Hunter had been sentenced to unpaid work in May 2022 for a previous offence involving a knuckleduster.

Sheriff Hamilton asked the prosecution to produce photographs of Hunter’s rings at the next hearing.

He said: “I want to see if they’re effectively the same as a knuckleduster.

“Obviously he had four rings on the hand that he’d punched with, and he’s taken them off before the police arrived.”

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