A prisoner who identifies as a woman battered a fellow inmate in the male wing of a Scottish jail after being the subject of “comments” by other lags, a court heard on Wednesday.
Paedophile Katie Dolatowski, from Fife, was serving a sentence in Polmont Young Offenders’ Institution.
Falkirk Sheriff Court was told the accused had been placed in male accommodation in the prison “notwithstanding” her identifying as a woman.
Danielle McDonald, prosecuting, said the incident happened in the association area of the Stirlingshire jail while inmates were collecting their lunch.
Ms McDonald said the inmate assaulted, 20-year-old Peter Patterson, was at the hotplate getting his meal when he “felt as if he had been shoved”.
Turning around, he was repeatedly punched by Dolatowski.
Witnesses saw the 22-year-old “holding Mr Patterson over a table and punching him to the back of his head”.
Warders shouted to Dolatowski to stop, which happened, and the accused was “escorted” back to a cell.
Dolatowski was placed on report and received punishments within the prison including loss of privileges and earnings.
She has since been moved to Cornton Vale women’s prison.
Prison attack
Appearing in the dock flanked by security guards, Dolatowski, whose last address was given on court papers as Dunfermline, pled guilty to assault by punching Mr Patterson repeatedly on the head and body.
The court heard at the time of the incident, on January 22 2021, the sex offender was serving a sentence imposed at Glasgow Sheriff Court, following an assault committed while staying in accommodation in the city.
Solicitor Kelly Howe, defending, said: “She identifies as female but notwithstanding that, she had been placed in the male prison population at Polmont and the court can probably anticipate the difficulties that caused her.
“She was targeted for quite some time in the lead-up to this and from her perspective she found it almost impossible to try and seek assistance from the proper route in the prison service because that brought more issues and difficulties for her in the context of those that were targeting her.
“On this occasion she decided to try and stand up for herself about something that had been said to her the previous evening.
“She told prison officers at the time that (the male) had been responsible for making comments about her.”
Sex offender breaches
Miss Howe said Dolatowski was released a few weeks later from the sentence but then became involved in a relationship that ended up being abusive, as a result of which her client fled to England for a time.
In October this year Dolatowski was placed on a restriction of liberty order for breaching a sex offender notification requirement to notify police of any new addresses.
Miss Howe said both Dolatowski and her mother then had to flee their address in Kirkcaldy because it was being “targeted”.
That breached the restriction of liberty order, as a result of which Dolatowski was sentenced to four months imprisonment at the start of November, with an earliest release date of December 30.
Miss Howe said her client’s identity “has now been recognised” by the prison service to the extent she is serving her current sentence in Cornton Vale women’s prison, near Stirling.
Sheriff Christopher Shead deferred sentence until January 12 for a criminal justice social work report.
He said: “I see there are some complexities in terms of her circumstances which the court should consider before deciding if custody is the only appropriate disposal here.”
Previous offending
In March 2018, Dolatowski sexually assaulted a 10-year-old girl in the toilet of Morrisons supermarket in Kirkcaldy.
The terrified youngster was grabbed by the face, shoved into the cubicle, and ordered to remove her trousers.
The attack came a month after Dolatowski had filmed a 12-year-old girl on the toilet in another supermarket in the Fife town.
The court imposed a three-year community payback order and a ban from having contact with children for the sex offences.
There was outrage when it was discovered Dolatowski had been placed in a woman-only hostel.
In April 2019, a prison warning was given for “alarming” internet searches noted by social workers.
