Daniel Drever admitted assaulting Patriks Grigors during the brawl at The Saltire Inn in Livingston, West Lothian – but CCTV showed the assault
A man who bit off part of a bouncer’s ear in a pub fight claimed he was brutally attacked first.
Daniel Drever admitted assaulting Patriks Grigors during the brawl at The Saltire Inn in Livingston, West Lothian, but told a court he was acting under provocation because Mr Grigors had knocked him backwards onto the floor banging his head on a piece of furniture before straddling him and punched him repeatedly.
Dramatic CCTV footage of the incident was shown in court when Drever, 38, appeared for sentencing, the Daily Record reports. In the video two police officers and bar staff are seen trying to drag the bouncer off the accused to stop him being assaulted.
Drever’s solicitor Gerry Bann said the prosecution had accepted that Drever had been provoked but his client agreed that his actions had gone too far to count as self-defence.
Amanda Kerr, prosecuting, said the offence happened in the wake of another violent incident in the pub on January 2, 2023.
A woman, who was Drever’s girlfriend, had been ejected from the pub by Mr Grigors and another member of staff after standing on a bar stool to see what was happening.
She said Drever started arguing with the door steward about the reason for his partner being ejected and they ended up grappling with each other.
During the scuffle the accused bit the bouncer on the ear resulting in the loss of a 5cm square of cartilage from the middle of his ear. He required an operation to remove skin and cartilage from the wound to allow the ear to be repaired.
Mr Bann claimed the bouncer had “completely lost it” when confronted by Drever. He said: “He launched himself at my client, seized him by the upper body and knocked him backwards.
“He butted his head onto my client’s chest and punched him repeatedly on the way to the ground, three or four times. Neither of the police officers thought my client had committed any assault while being restrained by the bouncer.”
He said the door steward’s attack had been neither justified or necessary and since Drever had been assaulted he was entitled to defend himself.
He added: “The four other persons around were able to imagine the panic and fear of my client. The floor manager and two cops were making frantic efforts not to control my client but to control the bouncer.
“However, Mr Drever’s response was excessive and disproportionate in the face of this very real provocation.”
He said the accused had been assessed as being at low risk of reoffending and had only one relevant previous conviction from 18 years ago.
Sheriff Valerie Mays told Drever the offence he had admitted was serious and had led to disfigurement to the top part of the victim’s ear, about which he was self-conscious.
She told him: “I do have to consider how panic might have affected your judgement and your reaction.
“This was out of character and you have only one minor JP assault in 2007 and a couple of minor road traffic convictions. This is clearly a case where the custodial threshold has been passed but in the whole circumstances I feel I’m able to deal with this by way of an alternative to custody.”
She said she accepted that the accused had been in ”in a panic situation” when he bit the complainer’s ear while he was being restrained and assaulted.
She added: “I’ve been shown video that seems to show that you were being overwhelmed at the time you bit the complainer on the ear.
“I do think it might be helpful to have some social work input about avoiding situations to make sure it never happens again.”
Drever, from Livingston, West Lothian, was sentenced to 9 months social work supervision and ordered to carry out 235 hours of unpaid work in the community as a punishment.