A Caithness man who unleashed a drunken and obscene tirade of abuse towards two barmaids was told he was lucky he was not jailed for his offence.
Lee Mackenzie, 48 Queens Terrace, Thurso admitted behaving in an abusive and threatening manner towards the two women on a bus journey between Inverness and Dingwall on August 3 last year.
Inverness Sheriff Court heard last month that he made offensive sexual and threatening remarks to the two women who had previously refused to serve him more alcohol in an Inverness pub.
Defence agent Aileen Macinnes told the court that her client had written an apology to his victims.
“He was very drunk and this drunken and loutish behaviour was out of character for him as he says he has never spoken like that to women before.
“He accepts that it caused distress.”
Sentencing him to 100 hours of unpaid community work and to be under social work supervision for a year, Sheriff Margaret Neilson told Mackenzie: “This was appalling behaviour over a lengthy period of time with your victims unable to get away from it as they were in the confined space of a bus. You should be ashamed of yourself.
“I was considering a jail sentence but the community payback order is an alternative to custody.”