David Gowans threw the seat on to the pitch at Dundee United after a match, striking Aberdeen’s Jack MacKenzie
A football fan who left his own player with a “severe injury” after throwing part of a seat during a Scottish Premiership football match has been jailed for 18 months.
David Gowans, 31, threw the projectile on to the pitch after a league match between Dundee United and Aberdeen at Tannadice on 17 May. It struck Aberdeen’s Jack MacKenzie, who had gone to the area of the ground in front of the travelling fans to thank them for their support. The defender, now with Plymouth Argyle, suffered a “deep 2in laceration” to his left eyebrow and a “5cm abrasion” below his left eye, and has been left “permanently disfigured”.
Father-of-one Gowans, who had been working as an “offshore operator” at the time, had been a member of the Aberdeen ultras supporters’ group. He admitted culpable and reckless conduct in October.
Handing down his sentence at Dundee sheriff court on Monday, sheriff Alastair Carmichael told Gowans: “Your actions were selfish, stupid, dangerous and utterly irresponsible. You must have known that by throwing this item it could hit somebody.” He said: “If you didn’t consider this possibility, the level of recklessness is staggering.”
