Payback order for attack at Fife nightclub

The victim, who sustained two fractures to his skull and suffered bleeding to the brain, has only one hand.

Joseph Crombie (25), of Aitken Street, Kirkcaldy, denied that on November 15, 2015, at Kitty’s and Kandy, Kirkcaldy, he assaulted Marcin Dybowski by punching him on the head, knocking him to the ground and rendering him unconscious to his severe injury.

After a trial at Dunfermline Sheriff Court last month, a jury found Crombie guilty “under provocation”.

He admitted a second charge of being in possession of cocaine at Kirkcaldy Police Station on the same day.

Business owner Mr Dybowski (40) told the court he had gone to the nightclub with his wife and other family members. He had only been there for around ten minutes when he was attacked in the smoking area.

Mr Dybowski, who gave his evidence through a translator, said: “I didn’t know this man, I had never encountered this man.

“The only reason that I could have been assaulted is because I was speaking Polish.”

Crombie told the court he had been acting in self-defence. He said: “I felt intimidated. He was taller than me. In his face, his eyes, he turned very angry.I thought he was going to hit me.

“It all happened in a split second. I threw one punch. I thought I was going to be punched or a lot worse. I thought I was going to be attacked.”

Crombie said he had never seen Mr Dybowski before and did not know of his disability until he saw it in court.

Sheriff Charles MacNair imposed a community payback order with six months’ supervision, 250 hours of unpaid work and ordered him to pay £1000 compensation.

Crombie was also placed on a restriction of liberty order for four months