A man was chased with a baseball bat during a racially aggravated crime in Inverness.
Joshua Reilly, 18, called his victim a “Polish c***” and asked him “do you want to get hit now?” when he encountered him outside a charity event in Inverness.
He then left the scene but returned soon after swinging a baseball bat and threatening to hit the man, who ran off with Reilly hot on his heels.
Reilly appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court for sentencing having previously admitted charges of threatening or abusive behaviour and of having an offensive weapon in a public place – a crime that was deemed to be aggravated by racial prejudice.
He also faced sentence over a separate breach of bail conditions.
Fiscal depute Adelle Gray told the court that the incident began at 1.15pm on June 25 of this year outside a charity event at Go Outdoors in Inverness.
She said a witness noticed two men walking along Glendoe Terrace.
Joshua Reilly: ‘Do you want to get hit?’
She said it was at this point that Reilly approached the man shouting “Oi, you Polish c*** do you want to get hit now?”
Reilly stated: “We are getting it from the weegies” before telling the man he was “going to get a bat and put it through the windscreen”.
Ms Gray told Sheriff Sara Matheson that the accused returned a few minutes later swinging a bat and saying he was going to hit the man, who ran off with Reilly giving chase.
Bat man’s fight challenge
He returned a few minutes later and, as he walked past, challenged the second witness to fight.
Solicitor Willie Young, for Reilly, told the court that his young client had pled guilty to the crimes at the earliest opportunity.
He said: “He has been taking steps to address certain issues in his life.
“There are finally signs of maturity and acknowledgement that he had to get his life in some sort of order.”
Sheriff Matheson placed Reilly, of Assynt Road, Inverness, on a community payback order requiring him to remain under supervision for 14 months and complete 100 hours of unpaid work in the community.
