A YOUNG man wept in court yesterday as he saw a video of himself
carrying out a knife attack.
Daniel Downie, 22, was shown the video minutes before he was to appear
in the dock of the High Court in Glasgow.
He immediately pleaded guilty to slashing his victim four times in the
face and was jailed for six years.
Downie is the first criminal caught by security vidoes since the
cameras were installed in high-rise flats in Greenock.
The man he attacked needed 24 stitches and will be permanently
disfigured, advocate depute Alan Turnbull said.
Downie, of Balfron Road, Greenock, was on probation for a previous
attack when he committed the offence.
He attacked his victim with a knife after a drunken melee outside
flats in Grieve Road, Greenock, last April.
The cameras recorded Downie chasing and slashing his victim and
photographic prints of the attack were pinned up in court.
Defence advocate Bill Dunlop said: ''Downie can remember nothing of
the assault.
''He is distressed and shocked, after seeing the video, that he could
be responsible for such a violent action.''
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