Ex-engineer in court for breaking window after drinking spree
A young man had been living back home in Shetland just a week when he acquired himself two black eyes and three nights in the police cells.
Scott Henry, 22, with a bail address in West Burrafirth, was arrested in Lerwick on Saturday morning for breaking a window at a flat in Mounthooly Street after an all-night drinking spree.
When questioned at the police station it was discovered he was on bail from a court in Aberdeen in relation to a drugs charge. He reacted badly when told he would be kept in the cells until the next court on Tuesday, lashing out at a policeman who stopped him leaving through the door.
Appearing in handcuffs at Lerwick Sheriff Court on Tuesday the unemployed former engineer admitted vandalising the window and assaulting the policeman by punching him on the head. The officer was not injured.
Procurator fiscal Duncan MacKenzie said the incident had kicked off around 10.30am when Henry mistakenly thought his fiancee had been taken to the flat against her will. Instead of leaving it to the police, he threw a traffic sign at a window, causing £150 of damage.
Defence agent Tommy Allan said Henry had heard his girlfriend shouting down to him from the flat and he had thought she was calling for help. It turned out she was only shouting because she was high up from the street and thought he would not be able to hear her.
When Henry broke the window the occupant of the flat, who is considerably bigger than him, came down and bopped him, resulting in the twin shiners that were on show to the court. As for hitting the policeman, he was sorry and had reacted because of the amount of drink he had.
Sheriff Graeme Napier told Henry he could jail him but as it had been almost five years since his last stretch he would look at alternatives to detention, calling for reports and releasing him on bail until 17th June when he will be sentenced.
Henry was jailed for three months in 2004 for his part in a string of car vandalisms in the town centre.
