A bar-brawling brute has avoided prison despite knocking a man out and stamping on his head in a shocking ordeal caught on camera.
Nicholas Adams, 33, stared at his victim at Soul in Aberdeen’s city centre, before launching a terrifying attack that came completely out of the blue.
His victim, who was knocked out by a blow, fell to the floor where Adams began to stamp on his motionless body.
Adams previously admitted to the horrifying assault, which was captured on CCTV camera footage that went viral.
He returned to the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court on Friday to learn of his punishment.
However, Adams’ motive for lashing out remains a mystery because the details of a court-ordered social work report were not revealed to the press during the public proceedings.
Fiscal depute Lucy Simpson told the court that the complainer in the case had been socialising with friends in the city centre throughout the evening of March 17 2023.
Around midnight, they arrived at Soul on Union Street, Aberdeen, where Adams was also drinking.
“The accused and the complainer are known to one another,” Ms Simpson explained, adding: “The accused noticed the complainer and began staring at him.
“Without warning, the accused approached him and punched him on the face. The force of the punch caused the complainer to fall straight to the ground. He was rendered unconscious.
“While the complainer was unconscious on the ground, the accused stamped on the complainer twice – once on the head and once on his upper chest area.
“The accused was pulled away by members of the public.”
Adam claimed attack victim ‘deserved it’
Adams ran out of the venue and was pursued and challenged by his victim’s friends.
The attacker told them he had “deserved it” due to a prior disagreement.
The injured man was taken to hospital and found to have a deep laceration to the back of his head that was closed using stitches, and a broken ankle for which he was given an ankle boot.
Adams, of Cloghill Place in Aberdeen, pled guilty to a charge of assault to severe injury.
His defence agent Lisa Reilly accepted that her client had three previous convictions for assault.
She pointed out that the head injury was caused by the man’s fall to the ground rather than her client stamping on it afterward.
“His position regarding why the assault came about is clearly stated in the report and I don’t propose to rehearse or add to that here,” Ms Reilly explained.
The solicitor added that Adams had shown “contrition” and a “high degree of victim empathy” in the “extremely positive” report.
She told the court her client works closely with a youth football team, nurturing young players, and had been involved in raising money for charity.
‘Ridiculously reckless’ Adams convicted for fourth violent crime
Ms Reilly also noted that alcohol played a part in the offence and said Adams was not entirely abstinent from drink.
Sheriff Ian Duguid KC told Adams: “It’s astonishing that someone with your business abilities and who people write very favourably about has been involved not only in this but other instances of assault.
“This is the fourth time you have been convicted of a crime of violence. I find it hard to see what has been the cause of all this.
“You have committed a very serious offence. The punch rendered the complainer unconscious and to then go and stamp on his head is just ridiculously reckless in the extreme.”
The sheriff warned that other offenders in similar circumstances had left their victims with life-changing injuries or even dead.
However, he added: “I’m not your social worker and I’m not your mother. I’m not trying to tell you off.
“I’m telling you, you were close to something much more serious than this and a much more serious disposal.”
He ordered Adams to complete 280 hours of unpaid work and be supervised for two years.
He also ordered him to pay his victim £1,000 in compensation.
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