Stirling thug jailed after single punch attack on agricultural show reveller

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A thug sobbed as he was jailed for throwing a single punch which left an agricultural show reveller with a brain injury.

Rory Hunter, 23, felled the man with one blow following an incident after he left a nightclub in Stirling city centre.

The victim collapsed onto the road, hitting his head on the tarmac.

Stirling Sheriff Court heard that the 23-year-old victim had spent the day 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 Mr Hunter was a passenger hooted at them because they were on the road.

The victim responded by shouting at the car, and as it passed the victim and his friend, the occupants of the car heard a bang as if one of them had struck the vehicle.

The driver stopped and Hunter got out and lashed out at the man.

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

Passers-by ran to his aid as blood poured from his head and face.

His 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 injured 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.

The court heard Hunter, who has a previous conviction for an offence involving a knuckleduster, had been wearing “two chunky rings” on his right hand when he punched the victim.

Hunter, a father-of-one, of Bridge of Allan, appeared for sentence after earlier pleading guilty to assault to severe injury, permanent impairment, permanent disfigurement, and the danger of life.

The incident happened about 2.50am on Sunday June 11, 2023 in Goosecroft Road, Stirling, near the new Travelodge building.

Hunter also admitted causing a statutory breach of the peace in an unrelated incident in October 2023 in the common close of his home in Avenue Park, in which he sprayed a neighbour with foam from a fire extinguisher during a disagreement about a disturbance, and damaging a moving car by pelting it with stones in Inverallan Road, Bridge of Allan, in March 2024 – an offence of vandalism.

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

On Wednesday, Sheriff Derek Hamilton jailed Hunter for 32 months.

The sheriff described the assault on the victim as “shocking”.

After reading a victim impact statement from the man’s mother, he said his life had been changed dramatically by Hunter’s “random infliction of significant violence”.

Hunter snuffled and blubbered in the dock throughout the hearing.

As he was handcuffed and led to the cells, his sobs filled the courtroom.

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