A man who threatened to burn down a foodbank when they refused to provide him with a parcel of groceries has been jailed.
Shaun Dunbar verbally abused a volunteer at his local community foodbank by calling her names and demanding: “I want my f****** parcel!”
The 54-year-old then told the woman he would “burn the building down” and continued to demand food, Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard.
He also faced charges of racially abusing shop workers and was found with an axe by police after repeatedly banging on his neighbour’s door.
Accused had axe
Fiscal depute Alan Townsend told the court that on March 7 this year Dunbar had been consistently bothering his neighbour by repeatedly banging on his door, with the man eventually calling the police.
When officers arrived they found Dunbar sitting outside the man’s flat drinking a can of beer with an axe lying on the floor beside him.
As he was arrested he struck a constable to the side of the head before spitting directly in his face.
A week later, on March 16, Dunbar was at a local Premier Store on Byron Square when he became abusive to staff and told them he would “kill them” and throw their bodies somewhere.
Upon being asked to leave the store, Dunbar then racially abused the two men.
That same day, Dunbar appeared at a local community centre that was being used as a foodbank and shouted: “I want my f****** parcel!”
When he was informed by a female volunteer he wouldn’t be getting a food parcel, Dunbar began kicking the door of the centre, verbally abused the woman and stated that he would “burn the building down”.
Dunbar then appeared at an RS McColl store, also on Byron Square, where he racially abused another person before again threatening to burn the man’s house down.
As he was being arrested Dunbar grabbed an officer by the wrist and refused to let go and as they managed to wrestle him to the ground he again spat at a constable.
Appearing for sentencing, Dunbar pleaded guilty to four charges of assault, three charges of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner and one further charge of being in possession of an axe.
Defence solicitor Iain Hingston told the court that there were “very much two Mr Dunbars” – one who is “quiet and polite” and one who “screams” at members of the public.
“He has a number of mental health conditions – when he’s fine he’s fine and when he’s not he’s not,” Mr Hingston said.
“Mr Dunbar often has limited recollection of his offending behaviour, but then he does these things and accepts responsibility.”
Sheriff Graham Buchanan told Dunbar that he had a “lengthy record of previous convictions and have served a number of prison sentences in your past”.
“This is quite a considerable catalogue of offending involving particularly nasty and abusive behaviour towards a number of people over a number of days in March of this year.”
Sheriff Buchanan sentenced Dunlop, whose address was given as HMP Grampian, to 20 months imprisonment, backdated to March 17 this year.
For all the latest court cases in Aberdeen as well as crime and breaking incidents, join our Facebook group.
