Man jailed after incidents on Gigha

Two incidents of threatening and abusive behaviour more than six months apart on the Isle of Gigha have led to a man facing a jail term.

Sheriff Patrick Hughes told the 39-year-old that ‘it gave him no pleasure’ to send him to prison, at the May sitting of Campbeltown Sheriff Court.

‘Your behaviour is escalating’ he told Charles Donaghy, who had admitted two incidents which happened on the Isle of Gigha.

In the first, on May 21, 2021 Donaghy admitted damaging a window with a hammer, and his threatening and abusive behaviour included shouting, swearing and uttering threats.

The second incident, on New Year’s Day 2022, saw him admit to having a knife and maliciously throwing a brick, which struck and damaged a door. This happened while he was on bail.

During this latter incident, Donaghy, of 9 Burnbrae, Westwood, East Kilbride, needed first-aid for a hand injury.

‘He never intended to harm anyone, but to harm himself,’ said Donaghy’s defence agent Stephen MacSporran, who told the court that his client had been in crisis at the time and because he was on the island during a holiday period could not engage with any services.

The agent added: ‘His connections to the island are now closed. He does not need to go back there. He has a long history of mental health issues.’

At an earlier hearing, Sheriff Hughes had called for a Criminal Justice Social Work report and a Restriction of Liberty Order assessment to be prepared on Donaghy and, referring to the reports, Mr MacSporran asked the sheriff to give Donaghy a chance to prove to the court that he can address his problems.

But Sheriff Hughes said he had a duty to protect the public and, in view of Donaghy’s ‘escalating behaviour’, he would sentence him to four months in prison for the offence in May and 12 months for the New Year’s Day incident; three months of the latter sentence was for committing the offence while on bail. Both sentences are to run consecutively.