A Perthshire man who racially abused a police officer is one of the first in Scotland to be successfully prosecuted under the country’s new hate crime act.
Kaine Baxter was arrested following a clash with officers at his home in Alyth.
The 26-year-old appeared from custody at Perth Sheriff Court the following day and admitted shouting racist slurs at a female police constable.
It is a breach of the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021, which came into force last month.
Baxter, who has a history of violence and disorder, was released on bail and will be sentenced in June.
Derogatory remark
The charge states that between Monday night and Tuesday morning at his Springbank home, Baxter acting in a manner that was racially aggravated “and which caused, or was intended to cause, police constable Nicola de Colle alarm or distress”.
He repeatedly shouted racially aggravated remarks at the police officer.
Baxter further admitted behaving in a threatening or abusive manner, likely to cause fear or alarm, by making threats and uttering a derogatory remark to police.
Full details of the incident – including the comments made by Baxter – have not been made public, but are likely to be disclosed at his sentencing hearing.
Prosecutors accepted Baxter’s not guilty plea to an allegation that he stole a mobile phone on April 22.
Sheriff Clair McLachlan deferred sentence for background reports.
Baxter was released on bail.
Bill backlash
Although he would have been convicted under previous legislation, Baxter is among the first to be charged under the new act’s provisions in Scotland and is understood to be the first from the Perth area.
The law, passed in 2021, came into effect on April 1 in an effort by the Scottish Government to better protect victims and communities.
It consolidates existing legislation, but also creates a new offence of “threatening or abusive behaviour which is intended to stir up hatred” against minority groups.
But the bill proved widely controversial, with claims it could impact freedom of speech, and questions over why women have been seemingly excluded.
Harry Potter author JK Rowling challenged police to arrest her over a social media post that described 10 transgender women as men.
Police later said no crime had been committed.
SNP MP Joanna Cherry also argued that the new law would be “weaponised by trans-rights activists to try and silence, and worse still criminalise women who do not share their beliefs.”
At the bill’s launch, Police Scotland was spammed with thousands of spurious and vexatious complaints via anonymous online reports.
Hedgehog ornament
Baxter’s criminal past will be considered when he returns to court for sentencing next month.
In 2022, Perth Sheriff Court heard how he throttled his mother, bit her on the head and then battered her boyfriend with a metal pole.
Drunken Kaine then smashed up the boyfriend’s car with an ornamental hedgehog.
He was ordered to carry out 180 hours unpaid work and was told to pay £120 compensation to his mum’s now ex-boyfriend.
He was also placed on a three-month restriction of liberty order.
Sheriff William Wood told him: “Your record shows that you are someone who is not afraid to turn to violence, but violence is never the answer.”
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