A former top international boxer has been fined after he made a series of threats to a woman in Stonehaven.
Commonwealth bronze medal-winner John Docherty appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court, where he admitted making threatening remarks to the woman on Thursday afternoon last week.
Docherty, 27, was driving through Stonehaven when a woman shouted something at him.
He then replied, calling the woman a “rat” and threatening to smash up her phone.
His solicitor, Natasha Martin, told the court her client knew that he had verbally lashed out and shouldn’t have retaliated in this way.
Docherty – who won bronze for Scotland in the 2018 Gold Coast games – trained at Aberdeen’s Byron Boxing Club prior to the event.
It was reported Docherty narrowly kept his driving licence when he was caught doing 105mph in a car while uninsured last year.
Fiscal depute Anne Mann told the court that a previous disagreement had occurred between Docherty and the complainer, who know each other.
At around 3.40pm on April 3 this year, the woman was in a front garden with a friend on Burns Terrace, Stonehaven, when Docherty drove onto the street.
“There were numerous children around when the accused arrived,” she said.
The woman then shouted something to Docherty, to which he responded: “You f****** rat, I will smash your mobile phone.”
Ms Mann said the woman then went into the house but could still hear Docherty shouting at her.
She then warned him that the police had been contacted.
Upon being cautioned and charged, Docherty replied: “I never done this.”
In the dock, Docherty pleaded guilty to one charge of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner.
Docherty was responding to shouts from woman, solicitor says
Defence solicitor Natasha Martin told the court that Docherty now accepted that he could have behaved differently.
“This was in a moment when he was being shouted at by the complainer,” Ms Martin said, adding that her client pleaded guilty to the offence at the earliest opportunity.
“Mr Docherty is in full-time employment, and he is in a position to pay any fine that the court deems appropriate.”
Sheriff Gareth Jones told Docherty that he was persuaded that a fine was the most appropriate way to deal with this offence.
The sheriff fined Docherty, of Lochside Crescent, Montrose, a total of £185.
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