Two men who dropped sofa from a building on to a woman fined total of £15,000

31 May 2021, 20:45

Two men have been ordered to pay a combined total of £15,000 after dropping a sofa from a building on top of a woman, leaving her severely injured.

Barrie Law, 27, and Lee Morrison, 33, appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court on Monday having previously admitted the single charge of culpable and reckless conduct.

The incident on December 7 2019 saw the pair trying to remove a sofa from Law's flat in Aberdeen and dropping it from the roof of Nailco Nail Bar.

The court was told this method was chosen as they could not find another way to manoeuvre it out of the property.

It was heard they had checked to see if anyone was in the area below before dropping it from a height of five metres.

However, the furniture struck Edita Butkeveiciute who was outside at the time.

Fiscal depute Colin Neilson said: "She wasn't aware of what happened, she woke up screaming."

The charge states the impact has caused her "severe injury, permanent disfigurement and impairment".

It was heard she is still unable to sit for more than 40 minutes, suffers panic attacks near tall buildings, flashbacks and has had her ability to sleep affected.

George Mathers, representing Law, said the incident would "haunt" his client for the rest of his life and he was extremely sorry for his conduct.

He said: "When they saw the woman, he got absolutely the shock of his life. He thought she was dead, he was shaken to the core.

"He feels so guilt-ridden about what he was done."

Mr Mathers added: "This will haunt him for the rest of his life."

Debbie Ginniver, representing Morrison, said: "Mr Morrison certainly didn't intend for anyone to get hurt, however, the complainer did suffer very serious injuries for his actions and he feels dreadful for that.

"It was a catastrophic error of judgment on Mr Morrison's part. If Mr Morrison could return back to December 7 2019 he wouldn't make the same mistake."

Sheriff William Summers said: "She was in hospital for a number of weeks and is still recovering.

"Her injuries are life changing."

He added: "Had it been the case that the two of you had simply dropped this sofa without taking any precautions, custody would be inevitable.

"But I accept you took precautions, albeit entirely inadequate."

He added: "To put it simply, it's hard to imagine doing anything more culpable and reckless than dropping a sofa from a roof."

Law was ordered to pay £12,000 in compensation and carry out 150 hours of unpaid work over 12 months.

Morrison was ordered to pay £3,000 and carry out 150 hours of unpaid work over 12 months.