SCALES OF JUSTICE Drunk bit shopkeeper after binge on vodka

A MAN grieving the death of his niece downed a bottle of vodka and took his fury out on a shopkeeper.

Glasgow Sheriff Court heard Martin Ross has suffered five bereavements in five years from his close-knit family.

On the day of the incident, he had attended at a police office to pick up a citation but the document wasn’t ready for him.

While agitated, he bought a bottle of vodka and downed it on a bus before getting off on Great Western Road and heading to the Day Today store for juice.

Two shopkeepers, aged 43 and 63, asked him to leave as he was drunk. Ross, from Maryhill, threw a juice carton at them while shouting and swearing. After calling the cops, the younger shopkeeper held on to Ross to stop him throwing anything else. Furious Ross bit the man, during the incident on September 26 this year, breaking his skin and leaving swelling.

The 42-year-old was on bail, granted on January 25, 2017, at Glasgow Justice of the Peace Court, at the time of the offences.

His defence brief told Glasgow Sheriff Court: “Prior to this offence he had been attempting to detox himself. He has lost some five members of his family in the past five years, including his niece, who was pregnant.

“The baby was delivered but died several minutes later.

“Mr Ross has taken this very hard.”

Sheriff William Totten sentenced him to a Community Payback Order with 18 months supervision and 120 hours of unpaid work .