A professional fighter yelled anti-Irish abuse at a woman in Stirling after a drug and alcohol binge, the city’s sheriff court heard.
Michael Cochrane, 20, appeared in the dock with two other people this week.
The court heard his co-accused went on to batter a man to the ground and kick him on the head later the same night, April 1 2021.
Anti-Irish abuse
The court was told Cochrane, of Hilton, Cowie, was with two unknown males in the Stirling’s Bow Street.
A woman living in a flat there had previous dealings with the males, who had heard her Irish accent.
At around 6.30pm the woman and another witness with her heard one person in the group shout up towards them.
Phrases used included “that f***ing Irish bitch is at the window” and “Fenian b***rd”.
Cochrane previously admitted behaving in a threatening or abusive manner by shouting and swearing and making racist remarks.
Court papers state the offence was aggravated by religious prejudice and was racially aggravated.
Defence lawyer Fraser McCready said Cochrane had taken alcohol and drugs that day and has no recollection of why he would commit the offence, telling a social worker this was “terrible and not like him”.
The solicitor said: “He very much regrets this.
“He is a talented sportsman.
“He engages in sport at professional level; he last had a fight in November and hopefully will have a fight sometime in the near future.”
Castle assault
Appearing with Cochrane in the dock were Stirling duo Dylan Paterson, 23 and forestry worker Brandon McDonagh, 21.
The court heard the pair were part of a group of six males on The Back Walk, a public footpath near the Esplanade of Stirling Castle.
One of the group made a comment towards one of two passing males and there was a further verbal exchange.
Paterson and McDonagh attacked one of the men, knocking him to the ground and then repeatedly kicking his head, leaving him with swelling and bruising to his left eye and a small cut to his left earlobe.
They repeatedly kneed and punched the other man, who suffered three broken bones in his fingers and bruising and cuts to the arms and body.
Both victims, who were in their mid-twenties at the time, managed to escape and police were contacted.
Sentencing
Mr McCready, also representing McDonagh, said his client was “heavily intoxicated” and recalled someone from the other group of males making a remark about what he would “like to do with his mother,” who died when he was younger.
The solicitor said this led to an argument and the assaults which McDonagh, of Harvey Wynd, “very much regrets”.
Paterson’s defence lawyer, Virgil Crawford, said his client, of Braehead Road, pled guilty on the basis he accepts he threw punches.
Sheriff Keith O’Mahony told McDonagh and Paterson they had pled guilty to two charges involving violence and, though he is entitled to jail them, would give them “one opportunity”.
The sheriff sentenced them both to 270 hours of unpaid work and placed them on 18-month offender supervision orders.
Sheriff O’Mahony stressed this is a direct alternative to custody.
The sheriff fined Cochrane £675.
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