A man who hurled racist abuse at a skateboarder in Elgin was reported to police after a disgusted tourist overheard his offensive remarks.
Lewis Smith called the man a “black c***” in the town centre in an unprovoked outburst.
There had been previous issues between the pair despite Smith’s victim claiming to have never met him before, Elgin Sheriff Court was told.
Fiscal depute Karen Poke said the incident happened around 11.30am on June 17 last year as the man was skateboarding past Smith outside the PDSA charity shop on High Street.
‘Get the hell out of here’
She said: “The accused shouted at him ‘don’t f****** talk to me, get the hell out of here you black c***’.
“At this point, a lady who was on holiday here in the area heard what had been said and looked over to see what was happening.
“The complainer had never met the accused and had never had any conversation with him.
“The tourist reported the incident to the police and officers identified the accused from CCTV footage.”
Smith, 30, admitted uttering racist remarks to cause fear or alarm as well as two breaches of his curfew.
The pair had a history
Defence agent Matthew O’Neill said the victim was actually known to Smith but had purposely told police he was unknown to him, given the man’s own previous behaviour towards Smith.
He said: “However, Mr Smith acted in an appalling fashion and takes full responsibility for it set against a difficult background at the time.”
The solicitor added that Smith had been struggling with substance misuse at the time but is doing better now that he is back living with his mother.
That was his explanation for him failing to answer the door during a curfew check last April, the court heard.
“He had fallen back into some habits that have caused him difficulty,” Mr O’Neill added. “He had consumed substances that had not been prescribed to him.”
‘This court will not tolerate racial abuse’
Smith was previously jailed last July for four months, just a matter of weeks after this racist incident.
On that occasion, he admitted to drunkenly hurling explicit comments and abuse at children who wouldn’t let him play football with them.
Sheriff Olga Pasportnikov spoke directly to the dock to state: “This court will not tolerate racial abuse no matter what the background circumstances are. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” was the reply.
She handed Smith, of Forth Place, Elgin, a one-year supervision order and 160 hours of unpaid work.
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