A Blairgowrie teenager has been detained for seven and a half months in a bid to protect his community from violence.
Danny Stewart was told the people of the town should be able to walk the streets safely and this could not happen if he was free to walk those streets with them.
A sheriff added that he faces spending the best years of his life behind bars if he continues to pose a threat to the town’s safety.
Perth Sheriff Court heard that the 18-year-old has been guilty of a string of assaults on people in Blairgowrie, including three offences that have left residents injured.
The latest conviction, which saw him sentenced to detention on Wednesday, related to a drunken assault carried out upon a complete stranger just two days after his release following a 14-month sentence.
He crossed the street to attack Connor Adamson and pushed him to the ground before punching him on the face. Stewart made off following the unprovoked assault, leaving his stunned victim with a bloody nose.
The court was told Stewart had little recollection of the incident as he had been drinking to excess from the moment of his release.
Sheriff Robert McCreadie warned the teen he had a ”bleak future”, while adding that his behaviour would not be tolerated by the courts.
”People should be able to walk along our streets in safety without facing the criminal behaviour perpetrated by such as you,” he said. ”You claim that you have no recollection of what took place because you were under the influence of alcohol but that just makes the offence worse.
”You were effectively a loose cannon in this community of ours and absolutely anything could have happened.
”You have spent the past year in detention and have a history of violence and you were going around Blairgowrie with no idea of what you were doing. The community of Blairgowrie has a right to be protected from someone like you.”
Stewart, of David Park Place, Rattray, admitted assaulting Connor Adamson on High Street, Blairgowrie, on November 26 last year by pushing him on the body, causing him to fall to the ground, and then punching him on the face to his injury.
Solicitor Steve Lafferty said the assault had been ”an impulsive act” relating to longstanding problems his client had with alcohol and ”lack of focus in his life”.
He said those problems had seen him facing repeated periods in custody and he made a plea to the court to consider an alternative to yet another period of detention.
But Sheriff McCreadie said: ”That is what happens to people like Stewart. In addition to the other offences he has committed he has now been convicted of an assault to injury in March 2011, a second in April 2011 and now yet another in November 2011.”
The sheriff told Stewart: ”Your future looks pretty bleak and if you do not change then you could face spending much of your life behind bars.”