A man has been jailed after he stole an electric scooter from a nine-year-old boy in Aberdeen.
Peter Garland, 32, appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court where he admitted grabbing the scooter from the child at the Mastrick shopping precinct.
Garland asked the boy if he could have a “shot” of his e-scooter – and when the child declined he pushed him off of it and rode away.
The boy’s tenacious mum found CCTV of the robbery and then shared it on Facebook to obtain Garland’s identity, the court was told.
When Garland was later identified and arrested by police, he was found to have a knife in his pocket.
Pushed child off of scooter
Fiscal depute Kirsty Martin told the court that that boy had agreed to meet his dad at Greenfern Shopping Centre, where he was going to buy batteries for his virtual reality headset.
Upon exiting a nearby shop, the child was approached by Garland who asked him for a shot on his scooter, which the child declined.
Garland then took hold of the handlebars and shoved the child off using his bodyweight and elbow before driving it away.
The theft was witnessed by other members of the public.
The boy’s mum then took it upon herself to go to a shop near to where the theft took place and requested that the shopkeeper view the CCTV.
He sent her an image of Garland and she then posted it on Facebook, asking if anyone could identify the thief.
The name ‘Peter Garland’ was suggested by a friend and a Facebook profile was found that matched the image the woman had been sent.
The mum then messaged Garland asking if he was the one who had stolen her son’s scooter and he admitted that he had and promised to return it.
Later that same day, Garland met up with the boy’s father and returned the scooter undamaged.
Police later got their version of events from those involved.
Days later, police arrested Garland on an unrelated matter and found a green-handled knife in his pocket.
In the dock, Garland admitted one charge of assault and robbery and a second charge of being in possession of a knife.
‘Mean spirited’ offence
Defence solicitor Alex Burn told the court that his client was on the tranquiliser drug Xanax at the time of the theft.
“This was a particularly mean-spirited act in taking a scooter from a young boy,” he said.
“He has told me he is embarrassed and rightly so.
“But I feel I should mention again that he did return the scooter to the boy’s parents.”
Sheriff Andrew Miller agreed with Mr Burn that Garland’s actions were “a mean-spirited assault and robbery on a nine-year-old child”.
“This must have been an extremely unpleasant experience for this child – but thankfully there was no physical injury,” the sheriff said.
“The testament to the determination of the boy’s mother that you were tracked down and ultimately charged.”
Sheriff Miller jailed Garland, whose address given as HMP Grampian, for 17 months.
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