A man who “had nowhere to go” during relationship “difficulties” went on to steal from a friend who offered him a place to stay.
James Blain, 40, took an electric bicycle worth £1,500 from the man who’d helped bail him out of his homeless situation.
He’d previously fallen out with his girlfriend during a drive to Elgin, when he attacked her while she was driving on the A96 near East Road.
A motorist in another vehicle was so concerned by the violent outburst on May 11 this year that they called the police.
Blain was later jailed at Elgin Sheriff Court.
‘She saw him thrust towards the driver’
Fiscal depute Karen Poke said: “A witness driving behind the car saw the accused in the passenger seat waving erratically back and forth.
“She saw him thrust towards the driver as she was behind the wheel.
“Once in Elgin, they continued shouting at each other in the street. He asked for her phone and refused to give it back before he threw it at her face – striking her on the left cheek, causing swelling and redness.”
Five days later, Blain was staying with a friend overnight when he stole their modified electric bike worth £1,500.
It has never been recovered.
Blain called police ‘s****bags’
Ms Poke added: “The accused had been staying with the man as he told him he had been having difficulties with his partner and had nowhere to go.
“Overnight the complainer noticed that his bike had been taken and the only people who had access to it were the accused and himself.”
Blain appeared via videolink from HMP Inverness to admit two charges of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner, one charge of theft and a breach of bail conditions.
On an earlier occasion, on March 5 last year, Blain resisted arrest, struggled with police and threatened them to a fight in the back of a police van, then called them “s****bags”.
‘Drugs and alcohol issues’
Defence agent Blain said that his client had a “chaotic lifestyle” and that the relationship between him and his partner had been very much “on and off”.
He said Blain’s struggles with alcohol and drugs were an ongoing issue and that the theft of the bike was to fund his addiction.
“He has not got to grips with his drugs and alcohol issues,” the solicitor added.
“By the time he is released, it is hoped he will have addressed a lot of those issues.”
Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood jailed Blain, usually of Siorachs Brae in Fochabers but currently a prisoner at HMP Inverness, for seven months.
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