Aberdeen fan jailed for 18 months for injuring Dons player Jack MacKenzie after throwing seat onto pitch | Football News

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, 32, threw the projectile onto the pitch following a league match between Aberdeen and Dundee United at Tannadice on May 17.

It struck Aberdeen’s Jack MacKenzie, who had gone to the area of the ground in front of the travelling Aberdeen fans to thank them for their support.

The defender, who currently plays for Plymouth Argyle, suffered a deep laceration to his left eyebrow and an abrasion below his left eye and has been left permanently disfigured following the incident.

Father-of-one Gowans was a member of the Aberdeen Ultras supporters’ group and had been working as an “offshore operator” at the time.

He admitted culpable and reckless conduct in October.

Handing down his sentence at Dundee Sheriff’s 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.

“If you didn’t consider this possibility, the level of recklessness is staggering.”

The judge also told Gowans there was a “bigger picture” to the incident, in that it happened at a football match and could have triggered further disorder in the crowd.

At an earlier hearing, the court was shown CCTV footage of the incident, which showed MacKenzie lying on the pitch for a few minutes after being struck while being attended to by medical staff.

He was subsequently taken off the pitch in a wheelchair.

The footage showed a large number of Dundee United fans on the pitch nearby, celebrating their team’s win.

Sheriff Carmichael went on: “There is no reasonable alternative to a custodial sentence.

“This is needed because of the gravity of this crime, and it is needed in order to adequately punish you, express the public’s disapproval of this behaviour, and discourage others from behaving in a similar fashion.”

As well as sentencing Gowans to 18 months in prison, the sheriff gave him a football ban order barring him from attending football matches for 10 years – which he pointed out was the “maximum period that I can impose.”

He has already been given a lifetime ban by Aberdeen Football Club.

Earlier, Gowans’ lawyer Larry Flynn told the court his client had been inebriated at the time he threw the chair and that he was so drunk he missed the supporters’ bus home to Aberdeen and had to get a taxi instead.

He added that Gowans was “extremely embarrassed” by the incident and that he accepts “he let himself down and let his football club down”.

At an earlier hearing, Dundee Sheriff Court was shown text messages Gowan sent to Aberdeen FC supporters’ liaison officer, Lynne Fisk, in which he admitted he had thrown the seat.

In one message, which was shown to the court, the father-of-one said he “wasn’t aiming at anything or anyone” and that the section of seat had just been “there right next to me”.

In another message he said it had been “a disastrous mistake”.

Helen Nisbet, procurator fiscal for Tayside, Central and Fife, said, “This was disgraceful conduct which could have resulted in far greater consequences.

“David Gowans’ crass behaviour could also have jeopardised the safety of other supporters.

“As prosecutors, we will not hesitate to deal with this type of offending which puts people at serious risk of harm.”