A man has admitted assaulting a phone shop worker and calling him a racial slur after a disagreement over service.
Jason Simpson lost his temper after the Inverness Mobile Phone Centre worker returned his phone to him saying they had been unable to fix the fault.
Believing the store had tampered with the device, he returned the same day and called the worker a racial slur before going behind the counter and punching him.
Simpson, 34, was unable to attend the hearing at Inverness Sheriff Court due to medical issues.
Solicitor Willie Young entered a plead of guilty on his behalf to a single charge of assault with a racial aggravation.
Fiscal depute Victoria Silver told the court that Simpson had left his phone at the Lombard Street premises the day before the incident on March 3 2021.
He had then been contacted by the shop worker who said they had been unable to fix the fault.
The following day Simpson had: “Collected his phone without incident” but shortly after had returned to the store “alleging that the complainer had tried to gain access to his phone.”
The court heard that Simpson was “shouting and swearing in an irate manner”. He then called the shop worker a racial slur.
‘I am going to get you’
After this he moved behind the shop counter and told the man: “I am going to get you”
“He then proceeded to assault him by punching him to the body,” said Ms Silver.
Mr Young told the court that his client had been under pressure due to concerns about his mother, who he cares for, and his own health.
He said Simpson had “lost his temper” after returning to the store to query the state in which his phone was returned to him.
Confrontation led to assault
“He noted that the screen had been replaced with a much cheaper screen; it was still moving within the phone, and the battery had been removed,” Mr Young told the court.
“He went back to the premises to confront the gentleman about this, there was then an exchange between the two.”
“He bitterly regrets allowing his temper to get the better of him on this occasion.”
Sheriff David Nicolson fined Simpson, of Firhill, Alness, £290.
