A drunk man who touched a woman in a pub then remonstrated with bar staff who asked him to leave has been ordered to pay compensation by a sheriff.
Stuart Mathieson, 31, was described as “heavily intoxicated” and stumbling by witnesses before he tapped a woman on the body near her buttocks.
When a member of bar staff asked him to leave he took exception and remonstrated with her.
Mathieson appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court to admit charges of breach of the peace and threatening behaviour towards a retail worker.
Fiscal depute David Morton told the court that on March 30 this year a woman had gone to Dows Bar in Inverness with her partner and friends.
He said: “She became aware of Mr Mathieson, who was not known to her, and appeared to be alone.
‘Heavily intoxicated’ and ‘stumbling’
“He is described by a number of people as being heavily intoxicated and stumbling around.”
Mr Morton described how Mathison then approached the area where the woman was and “tapped her on the body near to her buttocks” in what he called “a very short incident”.
“She turned around and asked him not to touch her,” the fiscal depute told Sheriff David Harvie.
The incident was reported to bar staff who asked Mathieson to leave.
“Charge two comes about because he took a little bit of exception to being asked to leave and was remonstrating with a member of bar staff. He did ultimately leave of his own volition,” Mr Morton said.
‘An isolated incident’
Solicitor John MacColl, for Mathieson, said: “I offer on his instruction his sincere and profound apologies for his completely inappropriate behaviour.”
He said that Mathieson had “no recollection” of the incident due to inebriation and said his client was “mortified” by his behaviour.
Mr MacColl said following the incident Mathieson had sought alcohol counselling and had been abstinent from alcohol since.
He added: “He offers no excuse for his behaviour, simply his apologies for the inappropriate conduct which he displayed.
“This is very much an isolated incident.”
Sheriff Harvie told Mathieson, of Mackenzie Road, Inverness: “It is obviously for you out of character.
“If this is how you respond to alcohol the steps that you have taken are appropriate, it may well be that it is not for you.”
The sheriff made compensation orders totalling £600 – with £400 going to the woman Mathieson tapped and £200 to the staff member at the bar.
