A Fife chaplain threatened and racially abused a bank teller in Dunfermline.
David Cole was sentenced at Dunfermline Sheriff Court on Wednesday, having previously pled guilty to acting in a threatening and abusive manner at the TSB bank branch on Queensferry Road last summer.
Cole appeared in the dock wearing a dog collar and clutching a scripture book.
He had admitted acting in an aggressive manner towards bank employee Beena Kapoor, uttering threats of violence and directing racial remarks towards him.
Depute Fiscal Mat Piskorz explained Cole had arrived at the TSB on May 27 2020, where he approached employee Mr Kapoor.
Cole did not have an account with the bank.
The fiscal said: “He stated that he wanted some money.
“The employee attempted to explain that they couldn’t hold face-to-face appointments and suggested he go online.”
Cole, of Park View Terrace in Inverkeithing, became agitated and stated he had walked two miles to get to the bank.
He said to the employee: “What if I pulled a knife out and robbed you and go inside the bank?”
Cole then began subjecting employee Mr Kapoor to racist abuse.
The 59-year-old looked down at the clerk’s nametag and told him he was from “a poor country,” namely India.
When Cole was charged by police officers, he told them: “I think this is absurd,”
He added: “I shouted and lost my temper, it shouldn’t be a crime.”
His solicitor Zander Flett told the court Cole, who is currently in receipt of Universal Credit, is planning on reuniting with family in the USA.
‘Racist attitudes will not be tolerated’
Sheriff Charles MacNair said: “These remarks were extremely offensive and would have caused much alarm to the employee who was doing his job.
“Asking ‘if I pulled a knife out and robbed you’ as a question is ridiculous.
“This would have been seen as a threat and the charge that you have pled guilty to describes it as a threat of violence.
“Then you made these remarks about India. It stereotypes a very large number of millions of people.
“Stereotypes of this sort are indicative of racist attitudes which will not be tolerated in this country.”
Cole was fined £160, including a victim surcharge and was ordered to pay Mr Kapoor £500 in compensation.
According to his LinkedIn social media profile, Cole was a pastor and chaplain in America for 25 years, working in Texas and Florida.
After the 9/11 Twin Towers terrorist attack, he became a first responder, firefighter and volunteer chaplain at his local Florida fire department.
It states: “The rest of my life’s mission is just one thing: to revitalize a struggling rural kirk in the heart of Scotland.”
He claims to have met with three US Presidents.
