Claggan man threatened to ‘bottle’ teenager

A MAN who threatened to assault a teenage car driver with a bottle and repeatedly made homophobic remarks to him was warned by a sheriff he could easily have been sent to jail given his previous record.

Alexander Watson, of Polmona, Claggan, Fort William, appeared at Fort William Sheriff Court last week for sentencing, following the compilation of a social work report.

Unemployed Watson, 34, had already pleaded guilty at an earlier court appearance to behaving in a threatening or abusive manner likely to place someone in a state of fear or alarm on November 27 last year in a Lochaber car park and had committed the offence while already on bail.

The court heard on the day in question an altercation started after Watson had asked someone to give him a lift back to Claggan.

‘His request was politely declined and the accused then responded with various phrases,’ said Procurator Fiscal Robert Weir, who read out an example of the abusive homophobic language Watson had used.

‘Things seemed to have deteriorated from there. He was holding a small glass bottle which the accused had taken from his pocket.’

Watson then told the 17-year-old driver: ‘Do you want me to bottle you?’ Police had then been alerted.

Defence agent Stephen Kennedy said: ‘He has very little recollection of the incident as he was under the influence of alcohol at the time. He is obtaining a level of help. You are not dealing with a man who has been sitting back and not doing anything.’

Sheriff Eilidh MacDonald said: ‘He has been to jail before and this was a very unpleasant offence. I could send him to jail.’

Mr Kennedy said his client very much appreciated he was ‘on the edge’ of going to jail.

Sentencing Watson to 60 hours of unpaid community work and a year-long supervision order, Sheriff MacDonald warned him: ‘As for your behaviour on this occasion, I hope you are ashamed. This was very unpleasant behaviour to someone who didn’t deserve it. I am persuaded to deal with this by way of a community payback order but I could just as easily have sent you to jail.

‘The supervision order and unpaid work are a direct alternative to custody and if you don’t comply, you will be brought back to court and imprisonment could be imposed.’