A party host who refused to turn down her music after police turned up at her door flung open her window and spat on a policeman’s head.
Gemma Paterson spat on the man from the upstairs of her two-storey council house in Banff after she refused to open the door to officers.
Fiscal depute Brian Young told Aberdeen Sheriff Court officers were called to the 22-year-old’s address on March 12 last year at just after midnight.
“They were tasked to attend in relation to a noise complaint,” he said.
“When they arrived they could hear loud music and knocked loudly on the door so that they could speak with the occupant.
“After repeated knocking, the accused opened the top bedroom window which overlooks the front door.
“She began shouting at the officers, before clearing her throat to gather saliva in her mouth and then she spat out of the window in the direction of the officers.
“Her spit landed on the police constable’s head.
“She shouted a further comment, before slamming the window and then turning the music down.”
He said officers made further attempts to speak with her through the letterbox but she refused to open the door.
Going through a tough time
Paterson, of Wilson Road, Banff, admitted one charge of assault. A not guilty plea to a charge of threatening or abusive behaviour was accepted.
Her defence agent Leonard Burkinshaw said the young mum had been going through an “extremely traumatic time in her life” as she’d been living in an abusive relationship.
“That led to difficulties there,” he added. “It also appears to have triggered her difficulties with mental health.”
Sheriff Graham Buchanan deferred sentence for six months to allow Paterson to be of good behaviour.
For all the latest court cases in Aberdeen as well as crime and breaking incidents, join our Facebook group.
