An Angus man described by a sheriff as “distinctly dangerous” towards young women has avoided a jail term.
Alastair Dalgarno will complete 225 hours of unpaid work as part of a year-long Community Payback Order for offences against his ex-girlfriend, but the 23-year-old has been warned that anything less than perfect compliance with the sentence will see him sent straight to jail.
Dalgarno, of Forthill Farm, Brechin appeared before Sheriff Gregor Murray at Forfar after admitting assaulting the female in July by grabbing her wrist, repeatedly forcing her thumb and fingers onto a mobile phone screen and throwing the phone at her.
Defence solicitor Nick Markowski said Dalgarno was now in a new relationship.
“There is an element of immaturity in the actual incident.
“The catalyst was that he was at her house, there were suspicions about him and some of the activity on his phone and that led to the assault.”
Sheriff Murray noted that Dalgarno had committed a number of offences against the same victim, including a previous assault for which he was placed on another CPO and a bail aggravation when he contacted her whilst banned from doing so.
The sheriff added: “What I now find is that there has been another offence against this lady.
“It would be fair to say that the social worker does not miss you in the report before the court, you do not come out of this well.
“You give me the impression of being a young man who is distinctly dangerous towards younger women.
“That is the context in which I have to sentence you.
“The social work department say that the do not think you can cope with a supervision requirement to keep an eye on you.
“I have decided just, and I emphasise just, that you escape going to jail,” added Sheriff Murray.
“The court will keep a very close eye on you. There will be a review in three months’ time and I expect to see that you have complied perfectly with every aspect of the order, otherwise you are going to jail.”
