A man who assaulted his girlfriend and stole her car after she refused to pay for his supermarket shopping has been jailed for 10 months.
Stephen Potter also targeted a member of staff who tried to intervene during the incident outside Inverness’ Asda store.
When police caught up with Potter in the woman’s car he was found to be over the legal drink-drive limit.
Potter, 41, appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court via videolink for sentencing having previously admitted charges of assault, taking the woman’s car without consent and drink-driving, all relating to incidents on June 29 of this year.
At a previous hearing fiscal depute Adelle Gray told the court it was around 8.10pm when Potter and his partner pulled up outside the Asda store on Ivanhoe Avenue.
Shopping request refusal left man ‘irate’
“The accused had requested the witness to come into the locus so she could buy him some items,” Ms Gray said, adding: “She has refused as she had no money.”
The fiscal depute said Potter then became “irate” and began to argue with the woman.
The pair got out of the car and Potter threw a glass bottle, which hit a member of staff from the store on the leg.
When that worker attempted to contact a supervisor Potter punched him in the face, before turning his attention back to his partner.
He grabbed her head, pulled her hair and swung at her, before forcing his fingers into her mouth.
Potter then took the woman’s car keys from her pocket, despite her attempts to resist.
A witness tried to slow him down by ramming him with a trolley, but Potter got in the car and drove off.
Police traced the car to Old Edinburgh Road, where Potter was stopped around 8.55pm and arrested. During his arrest, he also spat at a police officer.
He was taken to Raigmore Hospital and then to Burnett Road Police Station where, hours after the initial incident, his breath alcohol level was found to be 60 microgrammes per 100 millilitres – the limit being 22 microgrammes.
At the previous calling of the case, solicitor Marc Dickson showed mobile phone footage of the short-lived incident between Potter and his partner.
Alcohol and drug addiction
He said his client was “someone whose entire life has been absolutely blighted by alcohol and drug addiction”.
He also said Potter had since sought assistance from the drug and alcohol recovery team at HMP Inverness.
At the sentencing hearing, before Sheriff Sara Matheson, defence agent Samantha Morrison said Potter wants to “do something more productive with his life”.
She said at the time of the offence he was “heavily using alcohol and some drugs” but would “like to get with these matters” to “help curb his offending ways”.
But Sheriff Matheson told Potter: “I’m not able to deal with this in a non-custodial manner due to your appalling behaviour and your failure to comply with community disposals in the past.”
She sentenced him to 10 months in jail, backdated to July 9 this year.
Potter, of Kessock Road, was also banned from driving for 12 months.