A Perth man who “desecrated” a war memorial in the town by urinating over it has been ordered to carry out 160 hours of unpaid work.
Nicholas Mulligan was found in a drunken state by police officers on January 7 at the monument on King Edward Street.
Their attention was drawn to the 35-year-old as he was shouting “rubbish”, while emptying his bladder as crowds of people passed by.
Defence agent Rosie Scott said that her client had had “quite a lot to drink” at the time of the incident and he was travelling between two bars.
“He wanted to be sheltered from passers-by so went behind the war memorial,” she said.
“Unfortunately, he didn’t realise what it was because of the amount of alcohol he had consumed.”
Mulligan has a history of alcohol and drug problems and had recently been to a treatment centre in south Wales.
However, he left soon afterwards because of the “strong religious aspect” of Challenge House, as well as to sort out an outstanding warrant in Perth.
“He’s drug free at the moment,” Ms Scott added.
Mulligan, of Raeburn Place, admitted that on January 7, at King Edward Street, near to its junction with St John’s Place, he conducted himself in a disorderly manner by urinating on a war memorial committing a breach of the peace.
Sheriff Robert McCreadie slammed Mulligan’s drunken behaviour, accusing him of disrespecting the memories of those who died during the war.
He said, “You need to understand the respect that has to be given to the memorials of those who fell in the war.”
The sheriff added that many people would find the offence distressing.