Spitting man said he had hepatitis

A PROLIFIC offender spat on supermarket staff before claiming he had hepatitis.

Ziggi Christie was jailed for attacking staff at Lidl on South Road.

A sheriff told the 39-year-old that his offence was “beyond the pale”.

Dundee Sheriff Court heard workers believed Christie – who has a string of previous convictions – was trying to leave the store with a stolen bottle of alcohol.

He then began to spit at two staff members before claiming he was infected with hepatitis.

Prosecutor Jenna Grattan said: “The accused was restrained as he tried to leave the store. He then began throwing punches at them. The accused continued to be aggressive and was restrained further.

“As he was restrained, he started spitting at both the witnesses. He bragged about having hepatitis.” Christie, of Elders Court, pleaded guilty to assaulting staff members James Page and Craig Menzies by struggling violently with them, repeatedly trying to punch them on the head and body and spitting on them on July 19 last year.

Christie also admitted shouting, swearing, acting aggressively towards staff and making threats.

The offences were committed while he was on bail.

Defence solicitor David Duncan told Sheriff Alastair Carmichael that Christie has a long-standing alcohol and drug difficulty.

Mr Duncan said Christie had a pattern of being released from custody and then returning after a fortnight.

He added: “This appearance is different because his last release from custody was in October 2018.”

Sheriff Carmichael told Christie: “There are some limited positives here but because of your record of previous convictions and the nature of the offences, particularly assaulting members of staff, employees trying to do their jobs, then bragging that you are hepatitis positive... that is simply beyond the pale.”

Christie was jailed for eight months.

Ziggi Christie