Homeless man’s tirade at hospital
McPhee (21) hurled abuse at police and staff
A man who caused a prolonged disturbance at Forth Valley Royal Hospital and hurled sectarian abuse at police has narrowly dodged jail.
Darren McPhee (21) appeared in the dock at Stirling Sheriff Court on Wednesday (August 2) on one complaint of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner and a second complaint of impeding health workers in their duty.
McPhee – whose address is listed in court papers as Stirling Council Homeless Unit, Springkerse – hurled abuse at medical staff at the hospital whilst being treated back in March this year.
The court heard how McPhee had turned up at his father’s house, in Easterton Crescent, Cowie, whilst drunk and had fallen, leaving him with a gaping wound on his head.
When emergency services arrived he began to hurl abuse at them.
Fiscal depute, Laura Knox said: “At 8.40pm police were contacted by the accused’s father to say the accused had attended at his address whilst intoxicated and that he had fallen and hit his head.
“He was worried that his son would become violent towards ambulance staff and police attended.”
When officers arrived they found McPhee in a bedroom with his head “spurting blood”.
Mrs Knox added: “Paramedics were attempting to treat the accused but he was uncooperative.
“Police were concerned due to the nature of the injury and arrested him to take him to Forth Valley Royal Hospital.”
On arrival at hospital he was placed in a single room in the accident and emergency department as he began shouting and swearing and becoming aggressive.
A doctor and a nurse attempted to treat him when he continued to shouting abuse for around two hours.
He was then moved on to a ward where police had to constantly observe him as he threatened to fight with officers.
The disturbance continued for another six hours, with other patients complaining and police were forced to handcuff him before he eventually calmed down until he was discharged.
McPhee also appeared on a separate complaint, dating back to January this year.
On January 12 in Burghmuir Road in Stirling at around 10.45pm police received an anonymous call accusing McPhee of being under the influence and shouting and swearing.
When officers took him back to his home address he became abusive, and shouted sectarian abuse “I’ll f ****** slap you” and said to officers “you f ****** fenian b ******* ”.
He was then taken to Falkirk police office where he was cautioned and charged.
Defending, Stephen Maguire noted that McPhee’s behaviour in the hospital was the more serious charge.
He said: “He expressed remorse and shame. He has no excuse or justification for anything that he said.
“He has limited recall of what happened and he is thoroughly ashamed and appropriately so.”
A spokesperson for NHS Forth Valley said: “We take the safety of our staff seriously and provide training and support on handling potentially violent or aggressive situations.
“We also have Serco security officers available 24 hours a day at Forth Valley Royal Hospital together with CCTV monitoring.
“Staff are encouraged to report all incidents of violence and aggression at work and police are contacted where appropriate.
“Violence or aggression towards NHS staff is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated.
“Staff have the right to come to work without fearing for their personal safety.”
Sheriff Wyllie Robertson said: “This sort of behaviour, particularly towards nurses and medical staff, is not tolerated and much less than what you did has resulted in custody in the past.”
Sheriff Robertson stepped back from a custodial sentence and instead placed McPhee under supervision for 18 months for shouting sectarian abuse and he deferred sentence on the incident at Forth Valley Royal Hospital for three months for him to be of good behaviour and until the conclusion of another outstanding matter.