A baseball bat yob’s belligerence could land him in prison after he brazenly told a sheriff he wouldn’t carry out unpaid work.
Campbell Freeman was appearing for sentence at Inverness Sheriff Court after being found on the way to his former boss’s house with a baseball bat on July 5 last year.
The court was told Freeman had just been sacked by his managing director and made threats towards her, resulting in the woman phoning the police.
But as Sheriff Robert Frazer sentenced him to 120 hours of unpaid work in the community, Freeman, 58, bluntly replied: “I am not going to do it”.
Defence solicitor Willie Young said: “He has health issues which prevent him from working.
“He was emboldened by alcohol and dealt with the situation badly. His record does him little credit but he is embarrassed by his actions.
“He has been out of trouble since.”
‘I am giving you a chance. It is that or a custodial sentence’
Sheriff Robert Frazer noted that Freeman, of Knocknagael, Slackbuie, Inverness, has a bad record for violence and so he was going to place him on a community payback order with a year’s social work supervision and unpaid work.
Freeman, who admitted having an offensive weapon in a public place, replied: “I am not going to do it. I am not doing unpaid work. I am not doing that.”
Sheriff Frazer told Freeman: “I am giving you a chance. It is that or a custodial sentence. I will set a review for a few weeks’ time.”
Freeman shrugged his shoulders and repeated his unwillingness to cooperate.
He will return to court on September 7 when the sheriff will be told whether Freeman has done any of the work.
