FOLLOWING a drunken argument with his flatmate, a 36-year-old man ripped the flex from an iron, wrapped it round his friend's throat and tried to strangle him, a court has heard.
When his victim lost consciousness, Alexander Muir went to a neighbour's flat and asked them to phone for an ambulance. When they refused, Muir returned to his flat, found his companion struggling and again tried to strangle him.
He went back to
the neighbour's flat and told them: "I went for him again. Oh My God, I am going to get done for murder". This time the ambulance and police were alerted.
At Edinburgh Sheriff Court yesterday, Muir, a prisoner in Saughton, pleaded guilty to assaulting Brian Cryans to his severe injury and danger of his life in a flat in Gorgie Road on July 17 this year.
Fiscal Depute, Siobhan Monks, told the court that the men had moved into the flat some four weeks before the attack. Both of them had "problems with alcohol". They had been drinking when Muir lost his temper over some remarks made by Mr Cryans, ripped the electric cord from the iron and carried out the attack.
When police went into the flat they found Mr Cryans sitting on a sofa with his eyes closed and snoring loudly. They got no response when they spoke to him, but eventually managed to rouse him to a certain extent, although he could not speak. They saw ligature marks round his neck and Muir admitted what he had done and showed them the flex.
Mr Cryans was taken to the Royal Infirmary. He could not move the left side of his body, but, the Fiscal said, hospital staff did not know if this was due to alcohol abuse or lack of oxygen. He was detained overnight and released the following morning. Ms Monks said there had been no lasting effects.
Sheriff Elizabeth Jarvie QC deferred sentence on Muir for background reports, commenting that he had a record "but nothing on this scale".
The full article contains 351 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
