Man stole handbag from pensioner

A Perth drug addict mugged a 73-year-old woman in broad daylight in the grounds of a local library after “stalking” her as she left a city centre supermarket.

The vulnerable old-age pensioner had been carrying a bag of shopping in one hand and had her handbag over her left shoulder.

As she headed home via the AK Bell Library, 31-year-old David Edavane pounced, snatching the bag before legging it in the direction of Leonard Street.

“She immediately began screaming and other people found her in a state of incredible distress,” depute fiscal Robbie Brown told Perth Sheriff Court this week.

But the incident had been captured on CCTV and he was subsequently traced at his home.

Edevane, of King Edward Street, had previously been ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work after the court heard he was a first offender.

But he had only completed 101 of the hours - and had subsequently spent three weeks on remand while a background report was prepared.

He admitted stealing the handbag - and its contents - from the elderly pensioner in the library grounds on August 14, 2016, and then running off.

She thought it was a friend who had tugged on her bag and relaxed her grip.

Mr Brown said the accused later took police to the South Inch boating pond where he had thrown the bag into a reed bed.

It contained around £60, as well as other personal items. A total of £20 had been recovered.

Solicitor Paul Ralph said from the CCTV footage, police were able to track his client to the Greyfriars Hostel where he had been staying at the time.

Edevane had subsequently cooperated with officers, taking them to the South Inch where he had disposed of the bag.

Some of the items, including a diary and other personal items, had been water damaged.

“He has an addiction problem but is now receiving a prescription.”

Sheriff William Wood told the accused: “Clearly this was a disgusting offence against a defenceless old lady who had done her shopping. “You clearly had stalked her.” Taking into account the three weeks Edevane had just spent behind bars, the sheriff imposed a further 120 hours of unpaid work and gave him six months to complete it.

But he warned the accused: “You either engage with this order or it will be breached and you will go back to jail.”