A TEENAGER who had been snorting legal highs believed he was in an arcade game when he threatened a woman and demanded her phone.
Sixteen-year-old Owen Bruce was taken to hospital after a failed bid to escape police following the incident in a quiet lane in a north-east town.
The youngster later claimed he wanted the mobile phone so he could call himself an ambulance.
And last night campaigners warned the episode underlined the dangers of taking “new psychoactive substances” – better known as legal highs.
Peterhead Sheriff Court heard yesterday that Bruce approached his victim in Fraserburgh’s Albert Lane – a stone’s throw from the town’s police station.
He demanded her phone but she managed to push him away and fled.
She reported the incident to police and although Bruce, of Rathen, near Fraserburgh, tried to run off, he was detained by officers.
Fiscal depute Ruaridh McAlister told the court: “There was white powder around his nose. His explanation was that he wanted the phone to phone an ambulance.
“He was taken to hospital and told staff there that he had taken legal highs.”
Bruce’s agent, solicitor Gail Wiggins, said the teenager, who is about to begin an apprenticeship, wanted to move “onwards and upwards” and to “profusely apologise” to his victim.
The lawyer said that at the time of the offence the teenager was estranged from his parents and living with friends.
She said: “He had taken legal highs which had an adverse effect on him.
“He described to me it was as if he was in a video game when he was walking across the road.
“He entirely appreciated that although he felt his actions were entirely ok, this lady would have been frightened. I don’t think this is a young man we’ll see in court again.”
Sheriff Philip Mann admonished the first offender, who had to spend three days in custody before appearing in court in connection with the March 13 incident.
He also warned Bruce, who admitted acting in a threatening manner, that he would now have a criminal record.
Last night, drug prevention and awareness charities issued a warning to anyone tempted to try new psychoactive substances (NPS).
The Angelus Foundation, which has published a guide for parents on spotting drug misuse, said the effects of legal highs included delusions and even psychotic episodes.
A spokesman said; “Many of these drugs are amphetamine-type drugs.
“They are white-powdered stimulants which have similar properties to other amphetamines by acting on the central nervous system and causing rapid heartbeat as well as a level of euphoria.
“These drugs have quite varying levels of addiction. But addiction becomes much more likely if they are taken regularly and can lead to a spiral of damaging behaviour where relationships break down and ambition and drive is lost.”
Simon Pringle, a service manager for Aberdeen charity Drugs Action, which offers advice to addicts and their families, added that Bruce was lucky not to have suffered a worse reaction to the NPS he took.
He said: “Sometimes the term ‘legal high’ can give the false impression that these substances are safe, but we are regularly hearing of people getting into difficulties after taking them.
“As an organisation we would caution that individuals can react very differently when taking NPS and people really have no way of knowing what is actually in them.”
Bruce declined to comment after his court appearance.
