A teenager taunted the daughter of a crime victim while he lay in a coma, a court has heard.
Danielle Stewart made the comments while the man was hospitalised following an attempt on his life.
Stewart was driving by the assault victim, who was with a male, when she shouted: “We are animals. F***you, f*** your father. Frank’s dead.”
The 19-year-old appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court for sentencing having previously admitted a charge of threatening or abusive behaviour as well as failing to appear at an earlier hearing.
Fiscal depute Iain Logan told the court that the offence took place in Dingwall’s Millbank Road on April 20 last year, three days after an attempt had been made on the man’s life.
He said: “At the time of the incident [the complainer’s] father was in a medically induced coma.”
“Witnesses observed the vehicle drive past them, turning back in their direction.
‘We are animals’
“The accused was shouting: ‘We are animals. F*** you, f*** your father. Frank’s dead.”
Defence solicitor Mhyrin Hill said her client appeared before the court with no previous convictions and was judged to be at minimal risk of reoffending.
She said: “There is obviously a background here between all parties involved.”
Sheriff Eilidh MacDonald told Stewart, of McIntytre Place, Dingwall: “This is a very unpleasant offence.
“It is horrible behaviour. I’m not sure that you entirely understand the seriousness of the position you have put yourself in by behaving in this way.”
She placed Stewart on a structured deferred sentence for three months.