A teenager’s dreams of joining the military were hanging in the balance today after he was fined for making sickening racist taunts through a megaphone in the centre of a north-east town.
Horrified Ellon residents saw Brodie Thomson shouting about “burning” black people as he sat in the boot of a car in Market Street.
The 19-year-old also played a loud siren over megaphone and used a racist term for black people.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard how the teen was subsequently charged by police with “causing fear and alarm” on Market Street in October 22 2020.
Mr Thomson’s solicitor Neil McRobert told the court that after being released by the police and “having properly reflected on what he had done” he wrote a letter to the procurator fiscal’s office in which he said he was “remorseful and mortified” by the incident.
‘This was not the way he was brought up’
Mr McRobert said the 19-year-old tyre fitter was “very, very horrified and disgusted” about what he shouted through the megaphone.
He added: “He tells me he doesn’t hold racist views and he is upfront about the conduct of which he is very remorseful.
“His mother wanted to attend court today but obviously due to restrictions wasn’t allowed, but she told me that this was not the way he was brought up.”
Mr McRobert also told the court that Thomson had aspirations to join the armed forces, which may now not be possible as a result of the racism charge.
‘What was said was shocking’
Sheriff Morag McLaughlin told Thomson that she took the matter “very seriously”.
She added: “You pleaded guilty straight away and that is to your credit and I also saw with interest the letter that you sent to the fiscal because it showed that you had obviously reflected on your behaviour and were genuinely remorseful.
“What was said was shocking. I think part of the thing that makes it very difficult to hear things like that is that they either suggest that someone is holding racist views or it is what can otherwise be termed ‘casual racism’, which is also extremely offensive.
“I hope you have reflected on that and how unacceptable that sort of behaviour is in our society.”
Sheriff McLaughlin said that as Thomson, of Hospital Court, Ellon, had no previous convictions and had admitted the charge at the first opportunity she would fine him £420.
Speaking after the case, Thomson said: “I have caused myself and my family a lot of embarrassment and distress already but I would like to apologise to anyone who was distressed by my behaviour. This incident does not reflect the kind of person I am.”