A ROSYTH man has been jailed for smashing a glass bottle over a fellow party-goer's head after a drunken scuffle turned violent.

Gary Gordon McCormack, 22, of 38 Pinkerton Place, got involved in the melee after a misunderstanding about two friends play-fighting with each other. 

He attacked another man with the bottle, smashing it and causing the man to be covered in blood.

Appearing at Dunfermline Sheriff Court last Wednesday, he admitted that on January 24, 2015, at an address in Mackie Place, Dunfermline, he assaulted a man by repeatedly striking him on the head with a bottle to his injury.

Depute fiscal Fiona Nairn told the court that a scuffle broke out at a party, where significant amounts of alcohol had been consumed, and McCormack grabbed a glass bottle by the neck and thrust the bottle towards another man, smashing it against his head.

"The man was thereafter seen covered in blood and staggering unsteadily on his feet," she said.

"The accused retained the broken bottle and began waving it around in front of him."

McCormack then ran out of the property and police and ambulance were called. The man sustained two one-inch cuts to the top of his head and was treated by ambulance staff.

Defence solicitor Stephen Morrison said McCormack had been involved initially as a peacemaker when two other individuals started play-fighting.

The complainer's brother punched one of the friends who were play-fighting, thinking it was real, at which point McCormack stepped in and tried to separate the parties before throwing a punch of his own. The complainer saw McCormack punch his brother and both turned their attention to him.

"The two brothers were advancing so he retreated into a bedroom and there was a scuffle of a relatively minor degree," said Mr Morrison. "At that stage, Mr McCormack was defending himself but what he should not have done and what he was not justified in doing was picking up the bottle and hitting one of them over the head with it.

"He wasn't looking for trouble but takes full responsibility for his wrongdoing and regrets what happened."

Sheriff Charles Macnair told McCormack: "You picked up a glass bottle and hit the complainer twice, which caused it to break. Hitting someone with a glass bottle, in particular with such force that it breaks, is always going to be a very serious offence. The injuries that can be caused in this sort of situation can be horrendous."

He sentenced McCormack to 215 days in prison.