Court / Young man ‘walking a tightrope’ after taxi office assault
A TWENTY one year old man who attacked another man in a taxi office has been warned he is “walking a tightrope” with no safety net.
Aiden McLeod, of Lerwick’s Gilbertson Road, already had “at least” five community payback orders against his name before Lerwick Sheriff Court considered his latest offence.
With McLeod having the maximum 300 hours of unpaid work waiting to be carried out, Sheriff Ian Cruickshank warned him he is staring a custodial sentence in the face.
Defence agent Tommy Allan himself sounded a warning to his client, saying this “will not go away”.
He added that “whatever garment he has is on a shoogly peg”.
The incident, which took place in the early hours 21 July 2024, saw McLeod approach a man and start to “get in his face”.
McLeod “was not making any sense”, procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said, and did not know the complainer.
The man walked away from him and went to the Allied Taxi office, but was followed by McLeod – who grabbed him by the neck when he tried to sit down.
McLeod was pushed from the taxi office, but soon returned – this time brandishing a wine bottle above his head.
Another two men arrived and tried to help, but McLeod was “playing the hard man” and challenging them to fight while threatening them.
McLeod admitted the charges of assaulting one man, having an offensive weapon in the form of a wine bottle and behaving in a threatening or abusive manner towards two other men.
Defence agent Allan said that McLeod had a “huge number of cases outstanding for some time”, and that he had “avoided facing up to them until he had to”.
Sheriff Cruickshank said McLeod had used up every community payback disposal available to him, which was leaving him with few options.
He said he was “walking a tightrope when there’s no safety net”, adding: “It’s entirely up to you whether you fall off or walk to the other end.”
The sheriff deferred sentence on McLeod for him to be of good behaviour for the next three months, and for him to comply with his community payback orders.
He requested a review on 19 November, and another social work report, to see if he is carrying out his unpaid hours of work.
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