Teenage raider escapes with fine

Leniency over ‘moment of madness’

A Blantyre teenager who tried to rob a convenience store while masked and brandishing a knife and baseball bat has escaped custody.

He was ordered to pay the shop owner and a shop assistant £1500 each and fined £2000.

Hamilton Sheriff Court was told yesterday the behaviour of the teenager – aged between 15 and 17 and who cannot be named for legal reasons – had been influenced by a friend from primary school he had met with whom he had lost touch.

The teenagers were wearing dark clothing and balaclavas when they entered the Farm Road store at 9.10pm on November 19 last year.

One had a bat and the other a large knife. They shouted for money and struck the counter with the bat and the knife. The shopkeeper said there was no money in the tills but they continued to shout.

The accused prised the till open with a screwdriver but there was no money and both teenagers left.

He was traced by police but the other teen was not traced.

He was detained by officers but the other boy ran away leaving the accused to deal with the responsibility for the offence, said his lawyer.

His agent told Sheriff Marie Smart yesterday her client, in a report prepared for the court, had shown remorse and regret for his involvement in the incident.

The accused’s family, she said, possessed “positive values” and the boy had no previous convictions. The incident, said the lawyer, had not be fuelled by drink or drugs. The crime was “out of character” and the accused had achieved academically. He was in a job with a good wage and committed to his career and future.

The solicitor further pointed out he was considered to be of low risk of reoffending.

Sheriff Marie Smart noted that the owner of the store and a shop assistant had been in the premises at the time of the raid and ordered the teenager to pay them £1500 in compensation each.

He was also fined £2000. The £3000 had to be paid within a week and the £2000 was payable at a rate of £50 per week. Sheriff Smart told the teenager it was “one of the worst cases I have encountered for a long time.”

However, she accepted that he had been acting out of character and he had a good family and job.

He had a positive future, she added, and risked “throwing it all away completely in a moment of madness”.

The teenager had been “extremely stupid”. But she said she was not going to “ruin what could be a worthwhile life” by sending him to custody.