A thug who bit a taxi driver has been spared a prison sentence.
Paul McKay, 28, admitted attacking Leslie Bell Eagan on July 27 last year.
McKay previously admitted at the sheriff court to behaving in a threatening or abusive manner in the city’s Scott Street by repeatedly shouting at another taxi driver, Alister McIntosh, during the course of his employment, kicking the interior of his vehicle and challenging others to fight.
He then assaulted Mr Eagan by biting him on the body, seizing him by the hair and pulling his hair to his injury.
McKay, of Lansdowne Court, then kicked a car, causing damage to it before pouring a flask of coffee through an open window.
Solicitor Ian Myles told Sheriff Alistair Carmichael that McKay “expresses his regret” over the incident which was “fuelled by alcohol”.
When passing sentence, Sheriff Carmichael said: “This is a serious matter.
‘‘You assaulted a taxi driver in the course of his employment. They do not need that kind of thing and that puts the matter into the custodial realm.
“I have to think of any alternatives to a custodial sentence and in this case I believe there are.”
McKay was placed on a restriction of liberty order keeping him indoors between 7pm-7am for three months, with 12 months of supervision.