‘Drill’ music ‘inspired’ boys to attack

A pair of teenagers who carried out a brutal robbery on a randomly selected victim after being “inspired” by violent “drill” rap music were yesterday told they face being locked up.

The boys, aged 15 and 16, followed Mark Coats then hit him over the back of the head with a rock before demanding money from him behind the Tesco store on South Road in Dundee.

The teenagers – one of whom admitted he carried out the attack as he was “short of cash” – succeeded only in getting 35 pence and an 18-pack of Bud Light beer from their victim.

The pair, who cannot be named because they are under the age of 18, then attempted to sell the beer using social media app Snapchat.

They were caught after CCTV images of the pair lurking near the supermarket were released – prompting one of the boy’s friends to tag him in a Police Scotland Facebook post.

The mother of the other boy then went to police and named her son as one of the pair in the image.

Dundee Sheriff Court was told that the boy – who wept in the dock after giving evidence – had spent an afternoon playing online video game Fortnite and listening to what a prosecutor described as “violent rap music”.

The court heard one of the boys later told police the drill songs were the “inspiration” for the crime.

A two-day trial heard Mr Coats was walking from the Tesco store to his home when he became aware of the two teens following him.

They were caught on CCTV walking through an underground car park at the shop, having identified Mr Coats as their target.

They followed him up a dark path before the older boy ran up a set of stairs beside Mr Coats as the younger boy smashed him over the back of the head with a rock.

He stumbled forward as the pair stood in front of him where the younger boy threatened to stab him.

The older boy then reiterated he would be stabbed if he did not hand over some cash, before Mr Coats threw a handful of change to the pair and laid down his rucksack, containing an 18-pack of lager and nothing else.

Mr Coats told the court how he had been left with long-term mental-health issues as a result of the attack.

The boys, now aged 16 and 17, of Dundee, faced a single charge of robbery committed on November 26 last year.

The 16-year-old admitted the charge at a pre-trial hearing, while the 17-yearold was found unanimously guilty by a jury of nine women and six men who deliberated for just half an hour before returning their verdict.

Sheriff Alastair Brown deferred sentence until next month for social work background reports and released both boys on bail meantime.

He said: “Had they been over the age of 21 I’d have been revoking bail and remanding them in custody and looking at a sentence running to a number of years.”