SENTENCING STATEMENTS

On sentencing, Lord Harrower said:  

"Stuart Forsyth, on 10 December 2024, at Edinburgh High Court, you tendered a plea of guilty under section 76 procedure to an indictment libelling four charges.  The first two charges were of assaulting the same complainer, in separate incidents, over a year apart.  In each case, the assault was to his injury.  The second incident was particularly vicious.  It took place in the complainer’s own home, with an axe, and endangered his life.  It was further aggravated by reason of its having been committed whilst you were on bail in connection with the first offence.  In addition, since the purpose of that second attack was to intimidate the complainer, being a witness to the first offence, the third charge was one of attempting to pervert the course of justice, again whilst on bail.  Finally, since one of the conditions of bail was not to approach or contact the complainer or to enter his home address, the fourth charge was one of being in breach of these special conditions without any reasonable excuse.

The victim of these offences was a friend and neighbour.  In January 2023, you visited him at his home.  While there, you detected the distinctive smell of sprayed paint.   Derogatory names had been painted on your friend’s front door, accusing him of being a paedophile.  You took that as a cue to carry out an entirely unprovoked attack, punching him twice to the head and knocking him to the ground.  Whilst he was on the ground, you continued your attack by kicking him on the head, causing him to suffer cuts and grazes.  Almost a year later, on 7 December 2023, you appeared at Peterhead sheriff court in relation to this offence, where in addition to the standard conditions, you were bailed subject to the special conditions that you should not approach or contact the complainer, or attempt to do so, or enter or attempt to enter his home address. 

However, on 21 March 2024, at about 11pm you turned up outside the complainer’s home address, apparently drunk, and shouting that the complainer was a “grass”, a “rat”, and that he was going to get stabbed.  Although the complainer had secured his front door by positioning a sofa across it, you pushed that to one side and made your way upstairs to the complainer’s bedroom.  In an effort to stop you gaining further access, the complainer positioned a mattress across his bedroom door and placed his weight behind it.  However, in what must have been a truly terrifying ordeal, you managed to split the door in half, reach through the opening, and grab the complainer, punching him repeatedly to the face and to the side of his head.  You also struck him at least twice with an axe, causing him to pass out.  When, over twenty minutes later, the complainer was found by a neighbour, he could not be roused.   The neighbour contacted emergency services and the complainer was taken by ambulance to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, where he was treated for bleeding wounds to his scalp, left wrist and right forearm. 

You are now 27 years old.  In the space of 9 years, you have acquired two previous convictions for assault, one of which was assault to injury, three convictions for threatening or abusive behaviour, one for vandalism and one for breach of the peace.  You have yet to serve any custodial sentence.  In committing the present offences, you have revealed yourself to be someone who not only has contempt for authority, but who sees himself as some sort of vigilante, prepared to take the law into his own hands.  The social worker has assessed you as presenting a high risk of reoffending.  I have taken account of everything said on your behalf by Mr Alonzi.  Such is the gravity of your offences, there is no alternative to a substantial custodial sentence. 

I will therefore sentence you as follows.

In relation to charge 1, but for the timing of your plea, I would have sentenced you to a term of imprisonment of 2 years.  Taking your plea into account, that sentence will be one of 16 months, backdated to 25 March 2024.

Had I been sentencing you separately in relation to each of charges 2, 3 and 4, I would have imposed, respectively, sentences of 48 months, 16 months, and 4 months, these figures having been discounted by one third to take account of the timing of your plea.  I would have attributed no part of the sentence for charges 2 and 3 to the bail aggravation, given that in respect of charge 4, I would have been sentencing you in any event for breach of the special conditions attached to that bail order. 

However, in order fairly and proportionately to reflect the gravity of your offending, I have decided to impose a single in cumulo sentence in respect of all three charges relating to the second incident.  This sentence will be consecutive to, and take effect only upon completion of, the sentence previously imposed.  In addition, in order to protect the public from serious harm from you when you are released, this second sentence will be an extended sentence.  An extended sentence is a sentence in two parts.  The first part, the custodial part, will be one of imprisonment for a period of 56 months, discounted from 7 years to reflect the timing of your plea.  The second part, known as the extension period, will be one of 2 years.  During that period, you will be subject to licence conditions to be set by or on behalf of the Scottish Ministers.  If you break the terms of your licence you will be liable to be recalled to custody to serve the remainder of your sentence.   Because the extended sentence is consecutive to the sentence previously imposed, the total period of imprisonment will be 6 years, followed by an extension period of 2 years.  In addition, I will impose a non-harassment order such that you may not contact, approach or communicate with the complainer, or attempt to do any of these things, for an indefinite period."