Man who killed stranger with single punch facing jail sentence
A man launched a fatal attack on a stranger after he was thrown out of a nightclub where he had been caught going into male toilets with a woman.
Mariusz Winiarski lashed out with a single punch which killed Brian Stirling following the assault in King Street in Bathgate in December of last year.
The High Court in Edinburgh heard that Mr Stirling (54) had been holding the woman's handbag before Winiarski attacked him.
Defence counsel John Scullion QC said Winiarski, who had been drinking, saw the victim looking into the handbag.
He said: "His initial reaction was the deceased was stealing from her. He accepts the conclusion he reached was entirely wrong and he accepts his reason in punching Mr Stirling cannot be justified."
He added: "He accepts full responsibility for the tragic consequences of his actions."
Winiarski (35) was originally charged with murdering Mr Stirling, but today pled guilty to a reduced charge of culpable homicide.
The defence counsel said that although it was a case in which a prison term was "almost inevitable" a background report would be required on the first offender before sentencing.
The judge, Lord Burns, deferred sentence on Winiarski, a prisoner in Addiewell jail, until May and remanded him in custody.