A sheriff has called for an urgent change in Scotland’s drinking culture.
Robert McCreadie said he is tired of the mayhem caused in communities by young people who routinely drink to excess.
He delivered a damning indictment of youth alcohol abuse from the bench at Perth Sheriff Court on Thursday as he was faced by an teenager who assaulted a stranger in the street.
Shannagh Anderson drank a bottle of Buckfast, four bottles of alcopops and an entire bottle of whisky and that was only what she could remember at this year’s Crieff Highland Games.
Fuelled by that alcohol the 21-year-old, who lives in the town’s North Bridge Street, later turned violent and assaulted a man in the town’s High Street by repeatedly slapping him on the face.
The court heard she went on to struggle violently with police, lashed out with her arms and legs and resisted arrest.
Smirking as she stood in the dock and seemingly amused as she relayed her alcohol consumption to her solicitor, Anderson sparked a furious response from the sheriff.
”I am tired of the public order offences committed by young people in our communities,” he said. ”It is time that culture changed as I have seen the irreparable damage that heavy drinking can do.”
He questioned if Anderson was aware of the significance of the offences she had committed and the position she found herself in.
”You do not seem to appreciate that you are in a sheriff court and that you now have a criminal record. I am horrified as much by your attitude to this offence as by the offence itself.
”You stand there smirking while you tell a court how much you have drunk. You drank so much that you have risked your health and if that is what you continue to drink then I have no doubt that ill-health will follow.
”Is that a good time, pouring alcohol down your throat? It horrifies me when young people appear before me at this age having drunk so much.”
Sheriff McCreadie added: ”In this case you drank so much that you decided to assault someone in the street and then struggled with police. You appear to be the kind of person who becomes aggressive when they have been drinking to excess. The court needs to nip this in the bud right away.”
Solicitor Jamie Baxter said his client was a first offender, and told the court: ”These offences took place on the day of the Crieff Highland Games and they are drink-related. She had been drinking for a large part of the day.”
He said Anderson was not in a position to clarify how much she drank, but after being pressed by the sheriff she gave her solicitor a fairly detailed account of her consumption.
Anderson pled guilty to two charges that she assaulted a man in Crieff High Street on August 21 by slapping him repeatedly on the face and the second that on August 22 she struggled violently with two police officers and resisted arrest.
Sentence was deferred to December 28.