A man threatened police officers with his dog when they turned up at his Inverness home and tried to talk to him.
Ry Carswell opened the door to police with his pet by his side but when he didn’t like how the conversation was going he launched into a “tirade” of aggression and threats.
Holding on to the animal by only its neckerchief, Carswell told officers what it could do if he released it.
Carswell, 29, appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court to admit a single charge of threatening or abusive behaviour relating to the incident on April 18 of this year.
‘Agitated’ man answered door
Fiscal depute Victoria Silver said officers had visited Carswell’s Church Street home around 4.30pm.
She said: “The accused has come to the door in a highly agitated manner with the dog by his side, only keeping hold of it by the neckerchief around its neck.”
Carswell then shouted and swore at police as they tried to talk to him, saying: “I don’t f***ing trust the police, you are always out to get me.”
When the officers continued with their enquiries he told them: “Keep winding me up, it will get the f***ing dog annoyed and you don’t want to see that.”
Following further exchanges Carswell continued his “tirade” and “made more threats about what his dog would do should he release him,” Ms Silver told the court.
Solicitor Clare Russell, for Carswell, said the matter that police had turned up about was not one her client was prosecuted for, explaining to some degree his frustration.
Dog was ‘on edge’
She said: “Officers had caught Mr Carswell at a particularly bad time,” adding that “the dog was also on edge following an incident where a window had been put in at Mr Carswell’s house that day”.
Ms Russell said that the threats made were “empty” and told the court that when officers had expressed concern over Carswell’s control of the dog he had gone into the house and put it on a harness.
She said: “He does accept that he saw red and acted in an aggressive manner.”
Sheriff Eilidh Macdonald told Carswell: “You are 29 and you behaved like a child shouting and screaming at the police.
“It has resulted in another conviction on your record. It was over the top, it was aggressive, it was angry.
“You need to move on from carrying on and behaving like this.”
Sheriff MacDonald deferred sentence to June next year to allow Carswell to demonstrate good behaviour.