A BORDERS teenager who admitted assaulting another male has been ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work and placed on a night-time home curfew as a direct alternative to custody.

Eighteen-year-old Owen Johnston, of Hawick's Wellfield Road, pleaded guilty to repeatedly punching a male to the head, pulling him to the floor and pinning him to the floor to his injury.

The offence happened at a flat in Northcote Street, Hawick, at around 2am on March 1, 2020, when a number of people had been in the property.

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Defence lawyer Mat Patrick told Selkirk Sheriff Court the offence happened when Johnston was 17 years old and had been associating with negative peers.

Sheriff Robert Fife told him: "This was a serious offence. But I have been persuaded there is an alternative to custody."

He imposed a Restriction of Liberty Order between the hours of 7pm and 6am for the next four months and said that the unpaid work needed to be completed within nine months.