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AN ARMY hopeful who attacked a man who was murdered moments later has avoided jail.
Connor Docherty, 21, pounced on Terry Smith, 30, at a flat in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, in August 2019.
The attack arose amid a remark the dad made about a t-shirt Docherty was wearing at a party.
Docherty smashed a vase off Mr Smith’s head before he was stabbed to death within 30 seconds by convicted Callum Andrews.
The murderer was caged for at least 15 years following a trial at the High Court in Glasgow.
Docherty, of Carluke, South Lanarkshire, meantime pleaded guilty to assault to injury and was ordered to be of good behaviour.
But, his lawyer Rhonda Anderson told the court on Monday that Docherty pleaded guilty to domestic threatening or abusive behaviour charge last August.
She said: “His partner was pregnant and lost a child and both were extremely upset about this.
“Mr Docherty attended her home and they stupidly took LSD together for the first time ever.
“Mr Docherty became angered and was shouting then struck his own head with a glass vase then threw it which caused it smash.
“Since then, he has never touched drugs and rarely drinks alcohol.
“He wants to join the army but this can’t be applied for until this matter is over.”
Judge Lady Stacey told Docherty that she was “disappointed” with his behaviour and that he did not take the chance offered to him.
She added: “Because you served a long period while waiting for trial, I will not impose prison on you.
“Understand what you didn’t understand last time – this is very serious.
“It’s time you got yourself sorted out, if you want to live a normal life you need to stop this and make sure you are never in court again.
“Put this behind you and don’t appear in court ever again.”
Docherty was ordered to do 150 hours of unpaid work on top of his six-month supervision for the threatening or abusive matter.
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