A Perth architect who clashed with children in a primary school playground has escaped punishment.
Alan Brown, 65, shouted and swore at a group of youngsters gathered outside Ruthvenfield Primary after hours.
He told two children, aged 13 and 14, to “p*** off and go home” after a piece of rubber tubing was flung at his car.
Brown appeared at Perth Sheriff Court and admitted behaving in a threatening or abusive manner, likely to cause fear or alarm, on a Saturday evening in January last year.
The charge stated he repeatedly shouted and swore towards the two named teenagers.
In an unusual move, Brown – a semi-retired lead architectural technician for a local firm – was granted an absolute discharge by the court.
The sheriff told Brown his conduct was unacceptable but noted the children “gave as good as they got”.
Putting it politely…
Fiscal depute David Currie said at about 7.30pm on January 15, the child and her friends were at the school “socialising”.
He told the court: “Essentially, they had been playing with a bit of plastic tubing.
“They had broken this and thrown it into the road, causing the accused to stop his vehicle.”
The prosecutor said: “The accused got out of his car and approached the group of children.
“It’s fair to say the youths were – to put it politely – engaging with the accused.
“During the course of this altercation, the accused told the complainers to ‘p*** off and go home.’”
Does not suffer nonsense
Solicitor David Holmes, defending, said: “What happened may not have been deliberate but somehow as the result of a fence being struck a piece of plastic landed on this man’s car.
“His natural reaction – perhaps because he has a family connection with the school – was to get out of the car and speak to the children.
“He is someone who does not suffer nonsense.”
Mr Holmes said: “He was telling these children they shouldn’t be on school grounds on a Saturday night.
“He accepts that he did say to ‘go home’ in the manner described, although he says the comment was directed at a male not a female. He also shouted.”
The solicitor said: “They were then telling him to go home. He accepted things got out of hand.
“It got to the stage where Mr Brown decided to leave but before he left he got into the car and sounded his horn in the hope that neighbours would come out and assist him.
“But nobody came.”
The court heard Brown, of Bleachers Way, Huntingtowerfield, had no criminal history.
Sheriff James Hastie told Brown: “It seems to me that the situation was not entirely of your own making.
“And it sounds like the youths were giving as good as they got.”
He said: “I am persuaded given the nature of this offence – although it is unacceptable – to grant an absolute discharge.”
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