A violent Polish criminal who pulled a child from his bike and threw him to the ground has been jailed.
Perth Sheriff Court beard that Karol Zemlik had a history of offending in his own country.
He attacked a 12-year-old boy in the North Muirton area of the city last summer.
The 27-year-old claimed the boy was one of a group of children who had been taunting him.
Solicitor Linda Clark told the court that Zemlik, who has a number of facial tattoos, had only been in the UK for a few months.
She said: “Mr Zemlik continues to live at the same address with his partner.
“He’d been in the UK, residing in Perth, since January 25 2019.
“He had been subject to much taunting, finger pointing and name calling, both by the person named in the charge and a group of his friends.
“They were cycling past Mr Zemlik, they heard a noise and heard Mr Zemlik approaching them. He grabbed the complainer and pulls him off his bike. There is no injury.
“Mr Zemlik accepts that he ought not to have reacted in the way he did.
“He had considered making a complaint to the police but he decided there was no point reporting it.”
Sheriff Keith O’Mahoney notes: “He has a record of Polish offences, including for significant violence.
“This was an attack on a 12-year-old child – there can be no excuse for that. It was sheer luck that there were no injuries.”
He added that there was no alternative to a custodial sentence and jailed Zemlik for six months.
As he was led away to the cells, his partner shouted “I love you, baby” from the public gallery.
Zemlik, of Bute Drive, Perth, admitted assaulting the boy by seizing him, pulling him from his bike and throwing him to the ground on Crammond Place on July 6.
