An armed shop raider who suffered a fractured skull after being rugby tackled as he fled from an Aberdeen store with jars of coffee has avoided jail.
Michael Rae showed the shopkeeper a knife when he went in to Bridge Street News in Aberdeen city centre on Boxing Day last year.
But when the bungling raider grabbed seven jars of coffee and made for the exit, he was tackled to the ground by a member of the public, leaving him with a fractured skull.
Rae was spared a prison sentence when he was back before Sheriff Jack Brown in Aberdeen Sheriff Court.
Rae previously pled guilty to assault and robbery charges and sentence was deferred for reports.
He has now been handed a two-year Drug Treatment and Testing Order (DTTO).
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The court previously heard Rae swiped a coffee jar in full view of staff member Shihab Yahia Arabi. Mr Arabi approached the 44-year-old and told him to put the coffee back or pay for it.
An argument then broke out between the two men and Rae held up his arm to show Mr Arabi he had a knife concealed up his sleeve.
The shocked shopkeeper retreated behind the shop counter and called the police.
And Rae, of Aberdeen’s Deansloch Terrace, then grabbed seven jars of coffee and attempted to make his getaway.
But a member of the public, who had witnessed part of the robbery, rugby tackled him as he left the shop, causing him to strike his head on the pavement and fracture his skull.
The court heard Rae, who had a drug problem, “had no recollection of what had happened, though he accepts that his intention was to steal from the shop”.
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