Two men have been ordered to pay thousands of pounds worth of compensation after dropping a sofa from an Aberdeen rooftop, leaving a woman severely injured.
Barrie Law and Lee Morrison pled guilty to culpable and reckless conduct, including causing severe injury, permanent disfigurement and impairment to Edita Butkeviciute.
At Aberdeen Sheriff Court on Monday, Law was ordered to pay £12,000 in compensation, while Morrison was ordered to pay £3000.
Both men were sentenced to 150 hours of unpaid work and were handed 18-month supervision orders.
Ms Butkeviciute, 31, said she lives in pain every day with metal plates placed in her spine following the incident on December 7, 2019.
The court heard the men were trying to remove the couch from Law’s flat before deciding to drop it from the roof of Nailco Nail bar as they could not find another way to get it out of the property.
The court was told they checked to see if anyone was below before letting the furniture fall the five metre drop striking an unaware Ms Butkeviciute.
In a statement released through Digby Brown Solicitors, she said she was glad the men had admitted what they had done but did not want them to be jailed.
Ms Butkeviciute said: “What happened damaged me and has affected me for life but I don’t want those men to sit in jail.
“It was a stupid thing they did – they know that and they have to live with that.
“But other people in the community have attacked them or isolated them and that is wrong so I don’t want to do anything to make matters worse.
“I just want to focus on my recovery in private and move on with my life the best way I can.”
Solicitors for Law and Morrison said the men were deeply regretful of what happened.
George Mathers, representing Law, 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.
“This will haunt him for the rest of his life.”
Ms Butkeviciute has been helped in her recovery by her sister-in-law and best friend.
After the men admitted their guilt in April, she said that she was still unable to go back to work more than a year after sustaining her injuries.
During sentencing, Sheriff William Summers said Law and Morrison’s actions were done with “utter disregard for the consequences”.
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