A teenager made a “catastrophic error of judgement” after bringing an imitation gun to an Aberdeen shopping centre as part of a planned “prank” on police officers for his YouTube channel.
Adam Tudja, now 20, had purchased a toy gun and painted it black to appear real before bringing it into Aberdeen city centre for a “foolish” stunt he planned to film involving police.
Tudja, who was 19 at the time, decided to abort the prank, but was spotted on CCTV by a security guard on the roof garden at the St Nicholas Shopping Centre in Aberdeen when he brought the replica firearm to show his friends.
He appeared to be in possession of a black pistol and was seen walking around with it in the early hours of the morning of April 3 last year.
Police responded to a firearms incident and detained Tudja who took them to where he had discarded what turned out to be the toy pistol painted to look like a replica.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard that Tudja had intended to pull a “prank” with the fake weapon involving the police as part of a YouTube channel he had.
However, he changed his mind beforehand and discard the toy gun.
Accused was seen walking around with pistol on CCTV
Fiscal depute Rebecca Thomson told the court that Tudja and another male were captured on CCTV by a security guard on the roof garden at the St Nicholas Shopping Centre in Aberdeen at around 4am.
She said: “At this time the accused appeared to be in possession of a black pistol and was walking around with it.
“Thereafter Police Scotland were contacted and advised of the circumstances.
“At around 4:20am at King Street the constables cautioned and detained the accused as part of the Firearms Act and carried out a firearms search.
“The accused intimated that he had been in possession of a toy firearm and that he’d disposed of it.
“The police then attended at the rooftop garden and the accused identified the imitation firearms, which turned out to be a plastic toy that had been painted to replicate a firearm.”
The fiscal depute said that Tudja then showed police officers his YouTube channel and a video he had made that showed him purchasing a toy gun and painting it black.
Tudja, a barman in Aberdeen city centre, pleaded guilty to one charge of being in possession of an imitation firearm without lawful authority or reasonable excuse.
Bringing fake gun into city was ‘foolish mistake’
Defence agent Debbie Ginniver accepted that “on the face of it, it does appear to be a serious offence” but claimed there was “no sinister element”.
She added: “He made the foolish mistake of purchasing the toy gun and painting it black.
“At the time he didn’t appreciate the ramifications of that action.
“As a consequence of this Mr Tudja will now have a criminal record and it will have ramifications for future jobs.
“He recognises that he has made a catastrophic error in judgement.”
Ms Ginniver claimed that Tudja had bought and painted the gun to share it as a video on his YouTube channel where he would then record a “prank” with unwitting police officers.
However, he subsequently decided against the idea.
She added: “I have actually viewed the video and I can confirm that the toy firearm was never shown to police officers and Mr Tudja has told me that he realised this would have been a foolish mistake.
“He then took the gun onto the city centre to show it to some of his friends and colleagues.
“Mr Tudja simply had it in his possession – he wasn’t waving it around.”
Sheriff Lesley Johnston told Tudja she hoped the incident would teach him a lesson “not to do something so stupid” in future.
She added: “I recognise that you know that you made a catastrophic error – you’re a young man and now you have a criminal record over this incident.”
As an alternative to a fine, Sheriff Johnston sentenced Tudja, of Urqhart Road, Aberdeen, to a community payback order with 60 hours of unpaid work.
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