News / Man who asked children for drugs is jailed
A TWENTY three year old man previously convicted of asking four children for drugs and threatening them has been jailed for four months after breaching a community payback order.
Alwyn MacDonald, of Murrayston, Lerwick, had avoided prison when he was sentenced in Kirkwall for the original offence, committed in August 2013.
Lerwick Sheriff Court heard that since then he had been “flitting between” Orkney and Shetland and “avoiding dealing with” the 100-hour sentence.
He had been convicted of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner by approaching three 12 year olds and an 11 year old in Kirkwall’s Glaitness Park, repeatedly asking them for drugs, chasing them onto Junction Road, uttering threats and shouting at them.
Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said the children had been “extremely frightened”. When they ran away, MacDonald had warned them “you’d better run or I’ll deck you”, before the children went home and told their parents what had happened.
Defence agent Tommy Allan said his client had been drunk at the time and could not recall much of the incident.
He has been struggling with addiction problems for some time, but still hopes to return to Orkney and re-establish contact with the mother of his child.
Sheriff Philip Mann said MacDonald had betrayed the court’s trust and, while he sympathised with his drug problem, felt it was “unlikely” he could serve the sentence within the community.
He sentenced him to four months in prison, reduced from six months to reflect his early plea.
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