A 22-year-old man has been jailed for 60 days for attempting to give his grandmother a Christmas present and card.
Darren Airlie, of Red Admiral Court, had borrowed money on Boxing Day so he could give his gran Kathleen Airlie a belated festive gift. But by visiting her house, he breached an existing bail order and was jailed by Sheriff Richard Davidson when he admitted the offence at Dundee Sheriff Court.
Depute fiscal Nicola Ross said, “At around 11.30pm on Sunday night, the accused’s mother, Jennifer Airlie, and grandmother, Kathleen Airlie, were at home when he entered through the back door. They asked him to leave but he refused, so the police were called. They came and arrested him.”
Solicitor Jim Laverty told the court that there had been “an incident at his grandmother’s home during a family gathering” in November and he had been arrested.
He was granted bail, with a special condition that he did not approach her or enter her house at Arklay Street in Dundee, and awaits trial in March.
Mr Laverty said, “The situation is that Mr Airlie was raised by his grandmother and through a third party, he received a Christmas card and present from her before Christmas.
“He didn’t have any money to reciprocate, but he managed to borrow some money and on Boxing Day he turned up to give her a gift. But his mother and grandmother told him that he shouldn’t be there. He took umbrage at the fact he was trying to do the right thing by them, if not by the bail order.”
Sheriff Davidson told Airlie that he had no choice but to jail him.
He said, “Your record shows that on 10 previous occasions you have breached bail orders. I don’t know why it was thought appropriate to impose the conditions of bail for you not to enter this address or to approach your mother or grandmother, but you chose to breach it anyway. I sentence you to 60 days’ imprisonment.”
A disgruntled Airlie protested loudly from the dock, “Two months?” before being led away.