A convicted sex predator has been jailed after he repeatedly racially abused another man inside Aberdeen Sheriff Court before getting into a physical altercation with a police officer.
Troy Sutherland, 29, appeared in the dock where he admitted shouting the n-word at a member of the public after he turned up for court while drunk.
When a police sergeant intervened and spoke to Sutherland, he uttered a racial slur and claimed the man wanted to fight with him.
He then shoved the sergeant before telling another officer he would “sink his teeth into his face”.
He also sent chilling Christmas messages to a woman telling her to “kill herself” after she ended their relationship.
Sutherland became aggressive
Fiscal depute Victoria Kerr told the court that at around 10.45am on September 16 this year Sutherland was at Aberdeen Sheriff Court to attend a court appearance alongside the complainer, who was known to him.
At 10.50am a police sergeant was escorting an accused to the custody cells when she observed an altercation between Sutherland and the other man.
The police sergeant told Sutherland to desist, however, he stated: “That n***** is looking to have a fight with me”.
Sutherland then started to move towards the man and was continuing to be aggressive, so the police sergeant placed her hands on his chest.
He responded to this by shoving the police sergeant onto a wall, causing her to bang her elbow.
She was assisted by another police officer and the pair successfully managed to restrain Sutherland and get him to the ground.
But as he lay on the ground, he continued to scream and shout while also repeatedly calling the man the n-word.
Sutherland then turned his attention to a male police officer, who he called a “specky c***” before stating that he was going to “sink his teeth” into the officer’s face.
In the dock, Sutherland pleaded guilty to one charge of acting in a racially aggravated manner and a second charge of assaulting a police officer.
He also admitted a third charge of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner towards two police officers.
‘Completely inappropriate’
Defence solicitor Jenny Logan told the court that on the day in question her client had been “consuming quantities of alcohol and has no recollection of the event itself”.
“He is extremely apologetic and was using alcohol to manage his emotions at the time,” the solicitor said.
“It was out of character for him despite his previous convictions.
“Mr Sutherland takes full responsibility for his actions and is remorseful and apologetic – he knows his actions were completely inappropriate.”
Sheriff Rory Bannerman told Sutherland: “I’m not sure what on earth you thought you were doing that day,” adding that he could think of “no other disposal” other than a prison sentence.
“You turn up drunk to court where you racially abuse a member of the public, assault a police officer and verbally abuse another,” he said.
Sheriff Bannerman sentenced Sutherland, of Peterhead, to four months imprisonment.
“This is for you to reflect upon your behaviour on that fateful day,” the sheriff told him.
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