low graphics version | feedback | help
| Front Page World |
| UK |
|
Northern Ireland Scotland Wales |
| UK Politics Business Sci/Tech Health Education Sport Entertainment Talking Point In Depth AudioVideo |
Man freed after killing father
Appeal judges overturned Docherty's four-year sentence |
A man who killed his father, after watching him physically abuse his mother, has walked free from court.
Jason Docherty thanked judges at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh as they quashed his original four-year sentence.
The 24-year-old from Menstrie, Clackmannanshire, was ordered to carry out 300 hours community service.
Lord Caplan told Docherty it was "a tragic case" but that they were satisfied the jail sentence should be overturned and that the community-based sentence would act as a measure of punishment.
'Devastating' effect
The court heard that Docherty's jailing, after the death of his father, had a devastating effect on the family.
Defence counsel Donald Findlay QC said: "They are nice, decent and genuine people and it is one of the hardest things I have had to do to speak to the family after he was sentenced. They were greatly, greatly distressed and hugely supportive."
Donald Findlay QC: Spoke of trauma |
Docherty was originally accused of murdering his father at their home on 17 March, 1998, but the charge was reduced to culpable homicide when he appeared at the High Court in Dundee.
The carpet firm sales manager had acted as a peacemaker in a household plagued by drink-induced violence at the hands of his father Neil, 54.
Refuge in bedroom
Over almost 18 years Mr Docherty's mother suffered repeated outbreaks of abuse which led to her sustaining a broken jaw and left her with an eye problem.
On the fatal night, Jason Docherty returned home from a pub to discover that his mother and brother Craig,12, had taken refuge in a bedroom.
His father had been drinking heavily and followed his wife into the bedroom where a row broke out. He slapped her and pulled her hair before his son stepped in to try to stop the violence.
Freak injury
He avoided several swings by his father before punching him. The older man fell to the floor and died by the time an ambulance arrived.
It was later discovered he suffered a freak injury to a bone behind the ear and that one of the punches landed by the son had sent out a shockwave which resulted in the severing of a vital artery.
Pathologists agreed it was an injury which it was virtually impossible to inflict intentionally.
|
Search BBC News Online |
|
|
 Advanced search options | |
| |
 | |
 | |
| |
 | BBC RADIO NEWS |
| |
| |
 | BBC ONE TV NEWS |
| |
| |
| WORLD NEWS SUMMARY |
| |
| |
| |
| |
 | PROGRAMMES GUIDE |
|
|
See also: |
|
 |
|
 |
31 Aug 99 | Scotland |
|
Man jailed for killing father |
| |
|
|
Internet links: |
|
|
|
|
|
Scottish Courts Service |
| |
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites |
|
Links to other Scotland stories are at the foot of the page.
E-mail this story to a friend
~RS~a~RS~international~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~02~RS~)