A man who told a policeman “Go back to your country” and then assaulted him has been spared jail.
Darren Kennedy said he didn’t want the officer to hold him because he was Polish and later spat in another officer’s face.
He appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court for sentencing having previously admitted charges of threatening or abusive behaviour, acting in a racially aggravated manner, assault and culpable or reckless behaviour.
At an earlier hearing fiscal depute Robert Weir had told the court the incident started on the evening of December 17 last year when Kennedy visited a friend in Fingal Road, Dingwall.
He said that just before 9.30pm a witness working in a nearby property had approached Kennedy and asked him to “keep the noise down.”
Later, the man went outside again and Kennedy set his beer down before approaching the man aggressively and challenging him to a fight.
Aggressive behaviour caught on CCTV
The incident was caught on CCTV and police were called.
Officers attended at 2.25am the following day and Kennedy was arrested and taken to Burnett Road Police Station.
During the journey, Kennedy made a racial remark to one of the officers saying: “You are Polish, go back to your country.”
He also told the officer that “he did not wish to be held by him as he was Polish”.
Kennedy was put in a cell under observation. When officers saw him taking off his t-shirt and putting it around his neck, they entered to intervene and he became aggressive.
Because of his demeanour, he was placed on the mattress, at which point he attempted to kick and bite one police officer, before shouting at another so that spittle landed on their face.
Solicitor Natalie Paterson told the court her client was “still a young man” whose 30th birthday was approaching and who wished to become a better role model for his young nephew.
‘The last of his offending’
She said: “He is keen to show the court that he has realised that this really is the last of his offending.”
Sheriff Gary Aitken placed Kennedy on a community payback order with 150 hours of unpaid work.
He told him: “This is your final chance, you either sort yourself out and you never see us back here again or you will spend the rest of your life in and out of jail.”
