JUST DESERTS
FALKIRK MAN WHO RACIALLY ABUSED CABBIE GIVEN SIX-MONTH DEFERRED SENTENCE
An offender bombarded a taxi driver with derogatory taunts and abuse and then told police the man had played the “racist card”. Andrew Perrow, 61, appeared at Falkirk Sheriff Court on 7 March, having admitted engaging in a course of behaviour that was threatening and uttering offensive remarks in Callendar Road, Falkirk on August 5 last year. Amy Sneddon, procurator fiscal depute, said: “The complainer, a taxi driver, picked up the accused, who said he was driving the wrong way. The driver said it was the quickest route and the accused
swore at him. “The driver tried to calm the accused down, saying he would take a different route if required. He stopped the vehicle and pressed his emergency button which alerted the taxi office. “He then got out of his vehicle and locked the accused inside. The accused was then asked to get out of the taxi and he began shouting and swearing.” Perrow hurled racist abuse at the driver, at one stage calling him the ‘n’ word. When police talked to him he told them the driver had “called the
racist card” into play and stated “they are getting away with this all the time”. Defence solicitor John Mulholland said Perrow “regretted his con- duct” and that he suffered from short term memory loss at times – a condition not helped by his alcohol consumption. Sheriff Christopher Shead said Perrow’s behaviour was “utterly unacceptable”, but noted there was a “complicated background” to the case. He placed Perrow, from Bainsford on a structured deferred sentence for six months to September 5.
MORAY MAN WHO SPAT IN CABBIE’S FACE TO PAY COMPENSATION & 12-MONTH SUPERVISION ORDER
A man who spat in the face of a taxi driver after becoming aggressive at the end of a night out has been ordered to pay £250 in compensation. On July 22 last year, a taxi driver stopped to pick up a man and a woman outside a hotel on Low Street in Buckie at around 10.30pm.
The man, later identified as Ricki Thain, 22, from Portgordon, got into the taxi alongside the woman but the driver could not understand what he was saying. Procurator fiscal Karen Poke told the court that it was at this stage that Thain started to get loud and aggressive. The taxi driver pulled over but Thain demanded that she take him home.
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She told him to leave the taxi but Thain grabbed her by the t-shirt, scratching her neck in the process, before spitting directly in her face. He then proceeded to spit all over the taxi. She told him that she would phone the police but he continued to shout and started to kick the outside of the taxi. He attempted to regain access to the taxi by pulling at the door but the taxi driver pulled away so that she could contact the police. But Thain was still agitated when officers arrived. He screamed in the face of one officer and resisted arrest, kicking his legs out in an attempt to break free. And, upon being moved into the back of a police van, he again started to spit profusely.
Elgin Sheriff Court heard that a spit hood had to be applied en-route to the police station. He then claimed after waking up the following morning that he had been “spiked”. Defence solicitor Grant Daglish told the court that Thain had been out with friends drinking on the night in question. However, he has little memory of what happened but has since apologised in person to the officers who arrested him and is hopeful of doing the same for the taxi driver. Sheriff David Sutherland ordered Thain to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work. He also imposed a 12- month supervision order and ordered him to pay the taxi driver £250 in compensation.
APRIL 2024 PHTM
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