A teenager who went berserk at Lerwick’s Gilbert Bain Hospital and pushed an OAP to the ground may have had his drink spiked, Lerwick Sheriff Court heard yesterday.
Rory Smith, 17, of 51 Burgh Road, Lerwick, pled guilty to two charges of assault on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day last year.
Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said Smith was taken to hospital by ambulance after being found lying drunk in the street, but while he was there he assaulted a frail 81-year-old man, pushing him against a wall and then onto the floor.
He then struggled with two nurses and a doctor who tried to pull him off the man, the fiscal said.
On Christmas Day Smith also assaulted a woman in a house in the town, throwing a duvet over her head and placing her in an arm lock, as well as shouting and swearing.
Defence agent Tommy Allan said Smith had been drinking a lot on Christmas Eve, but there was “more than a strong suspicion” that a friend had tampered with his drink.
The results had been “catastrophic” for Smith, he said, eventually leading him to spend time in Aberdeen’s Cornhill psychiatric hospital to be assessed.
Sheriff Philip Mann placed Smith under supervision as part of a community payback order for the next two years.