A DUNFERMLINE man has been sentenced for a New Year’s morning fight which resulted in a neighbour sustaining a broken jaw.

One of the victims had been out at a party with friends until around 8.30am but the festive atmosphere turned to violence when he returned home.

There was an argument about noise involving another local man, Mark West, which led to a street brawl with the victim’s brother also becoming embroiled.

The incident led to a jury trial at Dunfermline Sheriff Court last month.

After one of the victims gave evidence, West pleaded guilty to one of five charges he faced and returned to court for sentencing.

West, 33, of Wedderburn Crescent, admitted that on January 1, 2018 in that street, he shouted, swore, made threats of violence, challenged people to fight and engaged in a fight with the two brothers, whereby one of them was injured.

Not guilty pleas were accepted to four other charges West had been facing at the start of the trial, including assault to severe injury.

One of the victims, aged 40, told the trial that he had been at a Hogmanay party at a pub in Inverkeithing along with his brother and other friends.

He had gone there at about 9.30pm, left the bar at around 1.30am and then had gone to a house party in Inverkeithing.

“It was a brilliant night,” he recalled. “I remember walking up to the house singing."

He admitted he was “tired and really drunk” by the time he left the party at around 8.15am.

His ex-partner was the designated driver in their group and gave them a lift back to Dunfermline.

Trouble erupted when they went back to Wedderburn Crescent.

He was not getting off there as he was going for something to eat but his brother was staying with him at the time and he left the car there.

The two brothers were joking to each other in the street and as one walked up the path, someone shouted at him.

The victim went on: “A guy was saying something like, ‘Keep the noise down, I’ve got a bairn sleeping in there’.

“My brother said: ‘He’s telling me to shut up’. He was annoyed at the aggressive way he was behaving and it was about 8.30 by this time.

“It was getting heated between them and I tried to calm things down.”

He said there was some pushing and then West threw a “fly dig” at his brother.

The witness said he was not clear at the sequence of events after this but he and West were fighting and both “ended up on a fence”.

He also said West struck him with a Buckfast bottle.

The jury was told at the start of the trial that one of the brothers was taken to the Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy following the incident.

He was found to have a fractured jaw and required surgery to insert a metal plate and screws to the injury.

Sheriff Charles MacNair told West: “You were involved in a dispute which became physical.

"You made threats of violence and challenged people to fight. There was a fight and one of the victims received a significant injury.”

The sheriff imposed a community payback order with 240 hours of unpaid work.