An Aberdeen man faked amnesia “to get away from his girlfriend” before assaulting her in an Aberdeen hotel room and hurling racist abuse at staff who tried to intervene.
Josh Newlands was in an “on and off” relationship with Levi Brown when he invited her to spend the night at Aberdeen Altens Hotel on Saturday, December 16.
Yesterday, Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard that the 19-year-old alarmed Miss Brown the following morning by telling her he “could not remember anything of the past two years”.
Fiscal depute Colin Neilson said: “When the accused woke up at 7am, he asked Miss Brown ‘who are you?’ and said that he could not remember the last two years of his life.
“She was trying to calm him down until 10am, when the accused said he was joking and was doing this as an excuse to get away from her.
“When Miss Brown became upset, he punched her in the stomach.”
The court heard that he also seized hold of her neck and held her against a wall during the incident.
And when hotel employee, Kamela Grabowska, tried to interrupt, Newlands branded her “an immigrant” and asked her “do you even speak English?”
Mr Neilson added that when Miss Brown’s mother, Kelly Gray, arrived to collect her upset daughter Newlands lunged at her and tried to strike her as well.
Newlands, of Lochinch Grove, admitted assaulting Miss Brown, uttering racially offensive remarks towards Ms Graboska and assaulting Ms Gray “by attempting to punch her on the head”.
Defence agent Gail Goodfellow said: “This was a shocking display of behaviour, but appears to be out of character.”
Sheriff Graham Buchanan deferred sentence until February 22 for the preparation of reports.
