The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
City strip club customer hit bar manager
Adisgruntled customer assaulted a staff member at a city centre strip club when a transaction “didn’t quite go the way he had expected”.
Jamie Ross, 40, visited the adult entertainment venue on his birthday after drinking in Inverness.
But after interacting with two of the dancers at the Private Eyes club, Ross began muttering to himself before attacking a manager.
Ross appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court to admit a single charge of assault in relation to the incident on January 5 of last year.
Fiscal depute Pauline Gair told the court that Ross initially “caused no issue” at the venue – ordering alcohol and interacting with the dancers.
But after paying for and engaging with their services he was seen at the end of the bar “muttering to himself ”.
When the bar manager headed to the VIP area on the mezzanine level to take
payment from another customer who wanted to buy a private dance, Ross followed him.
Mrs Gair said: “He became aware that the accused was following him. After he dealt with that customer and they had left the area, he was aware that the accused was still loitering nearby.”
The manager asked Ross to go back downstairs and to leave the VIP area if he was not using the services there. It was at this point that Ross grabbed the man and presented a “multitool” at him.
The man pushed Ross off and pinned him by the arms as another staff member summoned help.
Police were called and Ross was arrested and later charged with assault.
His solicitor, Shahid Latif, told the court that Ross had spent the day helping his sister move house, which is why he had the multi-tool with him.
Mr Latif explained that his client had recently split from his partner and had “become depressed” when he returned to his home and realised “there was no one to share his birthday”.
He had taken a taxi to the city centre where he drank in various bars before ending up at Private Eyes.
“There was a transaction that didn’t quite go the way he had expected,” Mr Latif told Sheriff Gary Aitken, adding that his client had been attempting to “remonstrate with staff” before the assault occurred.
Sheriff Aitken called for a criminal justice social work report and deferred sentencing on Ross, of Ferry Brae, North Kessock, to next month.