Edinburgh man repeatedly struck victim in head with glass bottle in violent attack

An Edinburgh man has pleaded guilty to repeatedly striking another man over the head with a glass bottle in a violent, alcohol-fuelled altercation.

Graham Ferguson lashed out at an unidentified male with the makeshift weapon after claiming the man had pulled a knife on him during a disturbance in Edinburgh city centre last year.

Ferguson, 52, repeatedly struck the male with the bottle leaving his victim with a four-inch gash to the left side of his head and a cut to his nose.

The man was left covered in blood following the brutal attack at the Capital’s Hunter Square but decided not to wait on an ambulance and walked off in the direction of North Bridge.

The violent attack was captured on CCTV and Ferguson, of Johnstone Terrace, Edinburgh, was soon identified and arrested by police officers who had raced to the scene.

Ferguson pleaded guilty to the assault on the unidentified male when he appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Tuesday.

Prosecutor Heather Carmichael told the court the incident took place at around 9.40pm on July 10 last year and was witnessed by door stewards working a nearby pub.

Ms Carmichael said a group of drinkers, including Ferguson, were spotted by the pub staff at the city’s Hunter Square who “began to quarrel among themselves”.

The incident occurred last year at Hunter Square in the city centre.

The fiscal added: “A CCTV camera captured the accused striking the unknown complainer on the head with the bottle.

“The bottle was then taken from Mr Ferguson by another individual who then took it away and smashed it.

“The unknown complainer was observed to stand up and try to walk away and the door stewards observed an injury on the complainer.”

The cut to the man’s head was said by one witness to be around “four inches” and he was seen to be “bleeding substantially”.

The fiscal added a member of the pub staff was a qualified first aider and had “managed to clean up the cut and stem the bleeding” before the man then left the area.

Lawyer Mary Moultrie, defending, said the victim of the bottle attack had “brandished a knife at Mr Ferguson” when the pair had argued earlier that evening.

Ms Moultrie added: “There were various threats and allegations made by the complainer against Mr Ferguson which resulted in him losing his temper which he shouldn’t have done.”

Sheriff Kenneth Campbell QC deferred sentence to next month for the preparation of reports and a restriction of liberty order assessment to be carried out.

Ferguson pleaded guilty to assaulting an unidentified male by repeatedly striking him to the head with a bottle to his injury at Hunter Square, Edinburgh, on July 10 last year.

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