An Aberdeen man threatened to stab a supermarket security guard after he was caught stealing an £18.50 bottle of alcohol.
Martin Mcnolty was stopped as he left Morrisons on King Street on day, February 14, and after telling the security guard to let him go threatened to stab him.
Yesterday, the 39-year-old appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court and admitted the theft and making the threat.
Fiscal depute Lynne Macvicor said: “When challenged upon his way out of the store by a member of staff there, the accused stated ‘I’ve given the stock back’ and ‘let me go’ twice.
“He then said ‘I will stab you’.”
Mcnolty’s solicitor, Neil McRobert, described his actions as “wholly unacceptable and unpleasant.”
But he added that a warrant had been issued for his client in March, and the fact that he had not appeared in court sooner “suggests he has been keeping out of trouble”.
Mr McRobert said Mcnolty, of Stafford Street, was “anxious” to avoid a prison sentence and remain in the community.
Sheriff William Summers said: “The offences you pled guilty to are not the most serious but your record is shocking.
“It seems your rate of offending has significantly slowed down.”
Mcnolty was admonished for the theft of alcohol.
Sheriff Summers put him on a nine-month supervision order and told him to carry out 80 hours of unpaid work.
