A TEENAGER was attacked and punched repeatedly by an older male as he waited at a bus stop in Crosshill.

There was no apparent reason for the violence meted out to the 17-year-old youth by 27-year-old John Merrilees.

Merrilees, of Southfield Avenue, Ballingry, appeared in the dock at Dunfermline Sheriff Court.

He admitted that on October 15, 2018, at Catherine Terrace, Crosshill, he assaulted a youth by slapping and punching him on the head repeatedly and attempting to seize him by the head.

Depute fiscal Katherine Fraser said the victim had been with a group of teenage friends when the incident occurred.

One of them was waiting for a bus and the others were with him, sitting on a wall.

Merrilees, who was accompanied by another male, started shouting at the group of youths.

He shouted: “What are you saying? What are you trying to pull on us?”

He was asking the victim for his name but was told: “I’m not talking to you. Leave us alone.”

Merrilees then walked across the road and began slapping the youth. He then started punching him on the face and another teenager phoned 999.

Sheriff Alastair Brown called for reports and Merrilees will be sentenced on February 5.