When Glasgow was Gotham

[Westmarcher]

Taken from a recent report on BBC Scotland's website:

An assault trial has heard how a Scotland international rugby player was dressed as Batman when he allegedly attacked an amateur player in Glasgow.

Glasgow Warriors' Ryan Grant, Ryan Wilson and Rory Hughes are accused of, whilst acting together, assaulting Ally Maclay, a Glasgow Hawk, at a food outlet on Great Western Road. It is alleged that they punched him on the face, knocked him to the ground and repeatedly punched and kicked him on the face and body to his severe injury.

Mr Wilson is also accused of assaulting Gavin Quinn at the same place on the same day, by taking hold of his clothing, pulling him from a chair and placing his head in a head lock and struggling with him. He faces another charge of assaulting Mr Quinn, along with Mr Hughes, by repeatedly punching him on the head.

Amateur player, Fraser Hastie, told Glasgow Sheriff Court he had been at a night out in Viper, in the city's west end, for Halloween with other rugby players and had gone into Barbeque Kings around 2:00 am. He said that he was dressed as a minion - a character from the film Despicable Me - and while in the takeaway heard a "ruckus" and a "thump".
Mr Hastie said that he saw a man called Gavin Quinn on the floor and Mr Wilson standing beside him looking down in his direction.

Procurator fiscal depute Alastair Youngson asked: "Could you tell us what Ryan Wilson was dressed as, if anything?" The witness replied: "I think he was dressed as Batman."
The court heard Mr Quinn got up from the floor and that there was "grabbing and pushing" between him and Mr Wilson.

Mr Hastie told how Mr Maclay came in to the restaurant and hugged Mr Quinn. He claimed Mr Maclay then walked over to Mr Wilson and said "Leave it Batman."
Mr Youngson asked the witness if it was suggested to him that Mr Maclay was looking for trouble.
Mr Hastie replied: "If Ally was looking for trouble? Definitely not."
Asked what the response to the comment was he said: "The response to that was Ryan Wilson obviously took exception to what was said and threw a punch in Ally's direction which hit him in the face. Ally then staggered back and fell over with the momentum of the hit he received."
Mr Hastie told the court that Mr Wilson went over to Mr Maclay and others, including Ryan Grant - who was dressed as Bane, from the Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises - who were in the same area of the restaurant.
The witness said that he saw Mr Maclay on the floor in the corner of the restaurant. He said: "His eye had swollen very badly in which he couldn't see out of it, it had closed completely over. There was blood on his face."

The court was shown CCTV footage of part of the incident during which a man dressed as a large red crayon is seen to look on.
The witness was then asked to comment on what he saw.
He said Mr Wilson pulled Mr Quinn from the chair he was sitting at and that was what the thump was that he heard.
Mr Youngson asked Mr Hastie if he could tell the court where he was on the footage. He answered: "I think I'm behind the crayon."

The three accused deny the charges and Mr Wilson has lodged a special defence of self-defence on a charge of assaulting Mr Quinn.
The trial before sheriff Martin Jones QC continues.

[fsn]

I have nights like that. 

[Leman]

What jolly japesters. !0 of the cat should sort them all out.

[DanJ]

Would that be Cat Woman?

[Westmarcher]

The Conclusion .......

Ryan Wilson (aka Batman) was found guilty of punching Ally Maclay. He previously pleaded guilty to assaulting Gavin Quinn minutes earlier that night. He was fined £250 for assaulting Gavin Quinn and £500 for the assault on Maclay,

The charges against Ryan Grant and Rory Hughes, were found 'not proven' (a peculiar Scottish Law verdict which leaves the matter hanging in the air saying, more or less, we can't prove you're guilty - but we're not saying you're innocent either!  ).

Sheriff Martin Jones QC told the rugby player that both assaults "appeared to be unprovoked" and within a short time of one another, and after drinking alcohol, adding, "There's nothing unusual about that situation."

During the trial the court heard that Wilson wanted to sit in the booth beside Quinn so he could speak to a rugby colleague who was dressed as a shark  - but he was told to go away.

Wilson put his foot on the table in a bid to climb over into the seat, but Mr Quinn pushed it away.
He then grabbed hold of Mr Quinn and pulled him from the seat on to the floor and there was a bit of a struggle between the men which "fizzled off."

Mr Maclay, who was dressed as Tweedledee  , then came in to the food shop and was told by his friend what had happened to him. When Mr Quinn spoke again with Wilson, Mr Maclay said "leave it Batman" before he was punched by Wilson and fell to the ground. He grabbed Mr Quinn as he stumbled back and Wilson landed on the floor with them.

The court heard that a minion, a red crayon and others in fancy dress were nearby as the incident unfolded.   

[paulr]

...The charges ...were found 'not proven' (a peculiar Scottish Law verdict which leaves the matter hanging in the air saying, more or less, we can't prove you're guilty - but we're not saying you're innocent either!  ).

A very sensible verdict option that I wish was available here

Nothing worse than some bar steward getting off on a technicality claiming he has been proved innocent