A racist thug violently attacked staff and customers at an Aberdeen pub because his credit card payment was declined.
Dad-of-one Thomas Collins appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court and admitted punching and biting staff at Wilson’s Sports Bar during a night out in December last year.
The 36-year-old then turned on customers as workers tried to eject him from the Market Street pub.
One staff member was taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary to receive a tetanus injection.
Collins unruly behaviour continued in McDonald’s, where he headbutted plastic Covid partitions.
He then racially abused a taxi driver and ran off into the Ibis Hotel when he was unable to pay the £13 fee.
After causing a disturbance in the hotel lobby, Collins was taken into custody by police, where he threatened to assault a female officer when she was off-duty.
Collins has now pleaded guilty to seven charges, including assault, making racially offensive remarks and making threats of violence to police officers.
He pleaded not guilty to a charge of exposing himself in front of officers, which was accepted by the Crown.
Fiscal depute Sean Ambrose told the court that Collin’s entered Wilson’s at around 7pm on December 29 last year and almost immediately began to pester and annoy customers.
Mr Ambrose said: “After some time the accused’s credit card payments were declined and he was intoxicated and unsteady on his feet.
“A female staff member informed him he would have to leave because he was no longer able to pay for drinks and also due to his intoxication.
“The accused then went to the toilet where he began shouting in a drunken state to himself and then reentered the bar area with his fists clenched and an angry look on his face. He then slowly began to leave but stopped shy of the door.
“He was asked to leave again and a witness who was sitting at the bar got up to help, however, the accused refused to move.
“The accused took umbrage and got in the bar worker’s face and she put her hands on him to ensure a reasonable distance.
“The accused then went to leave but fell over a barrier at the exit and two staff members and the witness all helped the accused leave the premises.
“Without warning the accused punched the witness who’d been drinking at the bar once to the face and immediately after punched one of the employees to the jaw, knocking the glasses from her face, before he punched the other employee.
“The thereafter grabbed one of the employee’s hands and bit her right index finger.”
Collins was then seen by witnesses demanding burgers and napkins at the counter of McDonald’s on Union Street and was informed he hadn’t bought any food.
He began to shout and swear and punched and headbutted several plastic partitions that had been put up in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
He punched one partition and “smashed it into several pieces” causing alarm to customers.
At Exchange Street a short time later, Collins hailed a taxi and asked to be taken to the Ibis Hotel, where on arrival he failed to pay the £13 fare and walked off into the hotel reception.
Mr Ambrose added: “The driver followed the accused into the hotel and demanded payment and the accused became abusive and refused to pay.
“Due to the noise that was being created by the accused, witnesses came through to the main desk from the office and heard the accused call the taxi driver a ‘dirty black’ several times.”
Collins then demanded that the driver place the mobile card payment machine on the reception desk so he could pay the fee – but the payment failed and he swiped the device off the desk.
Police arrived and took Collins to Kittybrewster custody suite where his behaviour was at an “escalated and volatile level”.
He repeatedly used racial slurs against officers and told one he would “split him in half”.
Collins also told a female officer he would assault her while she was off duty.
Prison sentence will be a ‘forefront of courts mind’
Defence agent Iain Jane told the court that he was aware that Collin’s offences met the threshold for a custodial sentence due to the “gravity and severity” of the charges.
He said: “I have advised Mr Collins why custody will be at the forefront of the court’s mind in respect of this matter.”
He also stated the 36-year-old had served a 30-day prison sentence for public disorder in 2014.
Mr Jane said: “It’s not necessarily a prolific record but there is a history of this type of behaviour.”
Sheriff Kevin Duffy told Collins, of no fixed abode in Boddam, that he wanted to “look at all the sentencing options” and deferred sentence for a criminal justice social work report and restriction of liberty order assessment to be carried out.
He remanded Collins in custody in the meantime.
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